Octo Insurgency
by DreadAngel
Summary: "…Where is this place? It's so dark. I can't feel, I can't see, I can't hear, I can't…I just can't. Wait, why am I here? Who am I? What am I?" An Octoling with no name finds herself awoken in a metro station caked with blood and stuffed with corpses, her eyes immediately meeting that of a man from a long lost civilization. But neither of them know what the hell they just got into.
1. Bibulus

...Where is this place? It's so dark. I can't feel, I can't see, I can't hear, I can't...I just can't. Wait, why am I here? Who am I? What am I?"

"Hey."

What was that?

"Heeeyyy."

It's louder now.

"HEY!"

The Octoling's eyes snapped open at the sudden yell, seeing a figure standing above them with their foot held back, only to quickly drop it when they saw them awaken "Took you long enough."

She looked down at herself, clad in nothing but cut up biker leathers, her sea green hair dangling down her shoulders. She looked up to the person hidden in shadows by the light behind them, eyebrow raised "I'm surprised you're even alive," they looked around "clearly you got lucky."

The instant the person finished those words a horrible stench filled the Octoling's nostrils, if she knew the word to describe it she would use it.

"Where'd he go?" The shadowy person questioned her.

The Octoling blinked "What?"

"Where. Did. He. Go?" They repeated sternly "The man who slaughtered everyone on this station."

The answer to that question was something the Octoling wished they knew. They closed their eyes, trying to think back to anything before their awakening. Nothing. All they knew was the darkness.

The person sighed "I'll take that as a no, then."

The Octoling opened their eyes and looked around, where ever they were was painted red with blood, body parts and corpses littered about the place "Where…?" They quietly muttered to themselves, a hand tracing along the dirty tiled floor.

The shadowed person crossed their arms, loudly groaning "Whaddya mean "Where?", you're an Octoling, you should know where we are!"

The Octoling didn't answer, the only noise being the whirring of fans around the place they were, taking in the details of the place. She couldn't quite describe what it was, but the word station seemed to work, even if she didn't know what the word meant.

"Hang on," the person told them "look at me real quick."

The Octoling looked up at them, the light behind them fading away to reveal their details. Messy black hair, a red jacket and black scarf with cargo trousers and brown boots, small bits of blue armour all over their clothes with some pieces having an odd O-like symbol on them. They took a good look at the Octoling, tapping their foot "You ain't one of them."

"What?" The Octoling tilted her head.

"You're not green."

The Octoling looked at their arm, observing their pale skin. The only hint of green she saw was in her tentacles, at least the parts she could see. The sleeve of her jacket slipped down to reveal a word engraved into her flesh, the wound still fresh. The person noticed that, looking down at it "Subject D..." He muttered "Hmm, you know what that means?"

The Octoling shook their head.

The man took a bag off their back and unzipped it "Thank god she gave me this..." He ruffled around inside it before pulling out a handheld mirror "Here, look at this." He handed it to the Octoling, who held it up to their face. Her purple eyes shined in the light that seeped down to them, scar-like markings adorned her face around her eyes "You know who that is?"

The Octoling, once again, shook her head.

That man blinked, eyebrow raised as he lightly turned his head "You don't even know that's what you look like?"

The Octoling gave the same response as before, pointing to her hair and skin "Only this."

The man looked away for a second or two, muttering something to himself under his breath "Name?" He questioned as he quickly turned his head back to her.

"I..." The Octoling looked down, scratching her shoulder "I don't know."

"Hmm..." The man hummed, taking the mirror back and putting it in the bag "First smokes now a random Octoling...ugh, why do I always have to be the one to name things?" His sky blue eyes made contact with the Octoling's, before immediately breaking away to look at the scarred flesh on her arm "Delta."

"W-What?" Delta spluttered back.

They rolled their eyes once more "I'm calling you Delta. That Subject D thing has to mean something."

Delta's legs shook as she finally kicked them into action "You…?" She almost silently asked as she got onto her own two feet, realizing the left side of her clothing was stained in the red that had been painted everywhere.

"Marcus." Marcus nodded "I'm required by the oath I took to tell you I'm an agent of Overwatch. Of course, the last time they had any activity was 12,000 years ago..."

Not knowing a word of what Marcus was saying, Delta just went along with it "What's going on?"

Marcus shrugged, adjusting his bag "Dunno, little girl." He turned around, revealing the back of his jacket was covered in a shining dragon pattern "I can tell you what I do know, though – we're in some kinda Subway system, from the locals I've heard it's called the Metro. I've got some friends deeper in trying to find a way out, dunno how we even wound up here. Of course, there's also the fact that..."He looked over to the opposite end of one of the tracks in the station, a stack of bodies that had been split clean in two was sitting there, one Octoling's eyes staring right at him; for a moment he could've sworn he saw it move "there's something in here with us."

Delta silently nodded, the last detail sending a shiver down her spine...was that what was responsible for the massacre here?

Marcus shot Delta an icy glare "Don't just stand there! Loot the corpses, maybe they'll have a weapon for you to use should we get jumped, there's more than one shithead in here."

Delta nodded, instinctively saluting.

"And don't salute me, I was just a soldier, not Commander Morrison!" A loud groan came from within the tunnels, causing Marcus to turn his head around and scream "HEY! HEY! I'M TALKIN' HERE!"

Delta dropped her arm and ran off to find...whatever a weapon was. She came up to a lone Octoling among the death, seeing they were holding something scary looking. Delta lightly took it from their sick, green, pustule-covered hand. It was heavy, but still light enough for Delta to hold...even if she felt like she wasn't using it right.

The Octoling's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Delta's ankle, making her scream out. The Octoling looked up at her, their eyes shimmering with a liquid Delta didn't know "Save...your...self..." They wheezed, their voice warped and coarse, before their grip loosened to nothing, arm slumping down to the stained marble floor.

Delta groaned as she slowly stepped away from the corpse, quickly sprinting back to Marcus. He shifted his gaze to her, huffing "Alright, let's see what you got."

Delta handed him the weapon, Marcus carefully examining it "Well, beginner's luck, I've heard getting a genuine rifle in the Octarian army is difficult."

"I don't understand." Delta's words made Marcus roll his eyes yet again, handing her back the weapon.

"Most of the time you'll find weapons powered by ink and not traditional weaponry, as in, using bullets and the like. Seems whoever you got this from was a good shot, that sniper rifle looks powerful."

Delta nodded, mildly understanding what Marcus was saying. A horn then screeched through the station as a blinding light emerged from the tunnel, the sound of metal against metal making Delta's ears fold up as a long silver rectangle screamed out of the darkness, hissing as it finally came to a stop "Good timing." Was Marcus' reply as the doors hissed open. A few odd-looking creatures emerged from within, none of which Delta could name. But they all looked at her with odd glares and stares, Delta cowering under the looks "C'mon, kid." Marcus called for her as he boarded the...thing, Delta running in after him.

After a few minutes the doors hissed shut and the metal being took off back into the darkness. Marcus didn't say anything, only occasionally looking around "Where is he…?" He grumbled, tapping his fingers against the metal handles of the seat.

"What am I?" That question from Delta caught Marcus off guard. He looked at the young girl, seeing her young eyes with a light of innocence that reminded him of someone special. He sighed, shaking his head "An Octoling. That's all I know."

Delta sighed dejectedly, going back to just staring at the dark metal floor. Questions charged through her head like a bullet through glass, who was she? Why was she here? Where did she come from? It all made no sense to her.

"Hey, scruffy!" A voice suddenly echoed out through the chamber, Marcus standing up from his seat as the voice rang through the chamber "You got the stuff!?"

Marcus nodded, dropping the bag onto the floor "It's in there, all the stuff you need to keep this thing from falling apart."

"Knew I could count on you." The owner of the voice, an odd spiky blue thing with a hat on sounded very chuffed as he looked into the bag "Not bad, for an ancient relic."

Marcus sighed, shaking his head "At least I can actually get a job done, unlike the rest of the guys stuck down here."

The spiky blue thing grumbled as he pulled out a collection of gears "Ah, they don't train Octolings like they used to-" He then took notice of Delta, staring ahead of herself out into the dark tunnels, lightly running her finger up and down the scope of her rifle "Who's that?" One of his spikes extended out, curving to make a gesture like he was pointing at Delta.

Marcus looked over his shoulder at the young Octoling "Her? She's Delta. Well, that's not her name, she doesn't know it, it's what I named her-"

"Wow first you named your daughter after a dead guy and now you're just throwing the greek alphabet around?" The blue thing chuckled to himself.

"Can it, Cumber." Marcus snarled at his pal "Or you're going to be jelly on the rails."

C.Q Cumber smacked Marcus in the foot, sending him onto the floor with a loud KANG "Respect your elders, kiddo."

Delta's eyes shot over when she heard Marcus fall, yet remained in her seat with an awkward look on her face. Getting back up, Marcus shot C.Q Cumber an icy glare, which the blue slime-like conductor easily ignored as he slithered up to Delta, what was presumably his face turning up to look at her "Ain't seen you around these parts before."

Marcus wiped some dirt off his jacket "Yeah no shit, Sherlock, she wasn't in that station yesterday and then when I got there today, there she was. Can't remember anything, not even how she got there."

"I see..." C.Q Cumber nodded, looking Delta up and down "Not even whoever it is going around slaughtering everyone?"

"Nah." Marcus responded, leaning against a pole "It's like she was just dropped there."

Delta rolled up her sleeve, revealing the still bloody "Subject D" written into her arm, wincing lightly as the leather rubbed against the wound "Have you seen anything like this before?"

C.Q Cumber hummed before giving a straight "Nope. Is there anything you remember, anything at all?"

"No..."

C.Q Cumber looked Delta up and down again before nodding to himself "Ya know, I think I can help ye."

"Y-You can!?" Delta's eyes sparked with excitement.

"Yeah, yeah, but we're gonna need your help in return." C.Q Cumber said firmly, Delta leaning forward to hear it "So, I heard there's these things called Gems of Eternity round these parts, your friend here has been looking for them already, and those girls that got dragged in a few days after he showed up, but no one's found anything yet."

"Hey, hey." A loud echoing KANG rang out through the chamber as Marcus banged his knuckles against it "Don't expect her to follow through if she doesn't even know what the Gems are."

"I was getting to that!" C.Q Cumber barked back, his skin spiking up in anger. He quickly cleared his throat as he returned his gaze to Delta "These...Gems of Eternity are, from what we know, as old as the Universe itself, born from the moment it all came into existence. They hold powers so incredible that just tapping one wrong could wipe out a whole cluster of galaxies. After someone found traces of one being here, it's been a scavenger hunt for years to find it. And then people found more and more hints – now anyone who somehow winds up here gets pulled into the search." He sighed "I've been working this place for 50 years, kiddo. No one has left this place alive."

"How do people get here?" Delta questioned.

"Dunno." C.Q Cumber answered "My guess is that just thinking about the Gems warps you here."

Marcus spoke up from the back "That would be my guess, too, but I can remember things before I got here, as can the other two. Not sure about Delta."

"I guess the Gems are our best bet for now." C.Q Cumber suggested, slithering back to the bag and dragging it along "Get off at the next station, kiddo. Take the stairs down when we get there."

"Um..." Delta murmured, her brain not able to make an answer.

Marcus tapped the pole with his knuckles "Do as he says, kid, you can trust him."

"R-Right." Delta nodded, quickly returning to her silence.

The entire carriage was quiet for the rest of the journey to the next stop, not even the other travellers of all kinds of sea life saying a word to each other. Finally, the thing came screeching to a halt, the doors hissing open "That's your queue." Marcus gestured to the door, Delta hastily hopping out of her seat and running onto the station.

She looked back at Marcus with a questioning look "Are you coming?"

Marcus shook his head "Nah, I gotta do something further down the line, I'll come back, though – don't worry, kid."

"...OK." Delta quietly responded, the metal being screeching into life once more and vanishing into the darkness. As soon as it was completely gone, a hollow, cold wind blew through the station, chilling Delta to her core. It was then she heard a ringing noise coming not too far away – it was coming from a stand a few meters away, a golden bell shaking with the ringing. Delta slowly made her way over to it, picking up the bent rod on it "H-Hello?"

"Delta?" A raspy voice came through the device. Delta's body went cold at the mention of her name...only Marcus and C.Q Cumber knew that.

Nevertheless, she responded "Y-Yeah...that's me. I'm Delta."

"Good, good, I knew I had the right one." The voice said, its speech pattern very smooth and calm for its tone "Listen to me very closely, I'm a friend of C.Q Cumber and Marcus – Cumber told me all about what's happened – you can't remember a thing, can you?"

Delta gulped before carefully replying with just "No."

"Mmmm...unfortunate. And you're looking for the Gems of Eternity, yes?"

"That's right." Delta nodded "C.Q Cumber said I can get my memories back if I find them."

The voice chuckled "He's a good man. From what I heard, there's one nearby. So good luck finding it, just go down the stairs and you'll know where you're supposed to be."

"Um..." Delta whispered, feeling her hands going weak "OK. Bye." She quickly put the rod device back in its holster, gripping her rifle tightly as she approached the stairs, staring down into the inky consuming blackness at the bottom.

Her eyes wandered briefly, landing a subtle red glow in the shadows of the station – a small dot, seemingly looking right at her. Without a word she just looked away and made her way down the stairs, metallic stomping echoing through the subway system as she disappeared into the void.

And so much screaming.

**SPLAT X: OCTO INSURGENCY**


	2. Obumbratio

Delta didn't know how much time had passed after she started walking down the stairs. It certainly felt like quite a while, all she knew that she was just surrounded in darkness. The occasional scream, screech of metal or other ghostly noise would flow into the tunnel, joined by a cold wind. After who knows how long, Delta finally came to the bottom of the stairs, light slowly filling the area. She found herself in a large room clouded by a pink mist, an odd squelching echoing off the unseen walls. Delta readied her weapon as she walked into the mist...fully knowing she didn't have a clue what to do, but instinct was telling her to go forward. The room felt both empty and not empty at the same time, like something that wasn't there was watching her. A few minutes passed of Delta making her way through the maze, the mist turning to a fog, which got thicker and thicker as she progressed.

She froze up when a red dot appeared in the fog, unmoving. She tried to move, but her body didn't react an inch, frozen in position. The red dot began to approach, the squelching getting louder as it did until the owner of the dot was shown – they looked almost identical to the person that Delta had taken her weapon from, their skin a sickly green with a sea blue set of tentacles. Their eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses, the left eye being where the glow came from. Their armour was rusty and battered, revealing a lot of their skin. The further down Delta's eyes went to take in this person, the more she noticed the green got lighter but it was covered in more pustules...the sight of which creating an odd, sour sensation in Delta's throat and stomach.

The sick green person opened their mouth to speak, a torrent of thick black ink oozing from their mouth down to the floor, Delta's hands starting to quiver as they got even closer, dragging their feet in the black trail they set out in front of them. They suddenly released an ungodly screech and leaped towards Delta. The young Octoling immediately swung her weapon up with the slim end facing her attacker. Her finger pulled down on the trigger, a brief crack sounding followed by an ear-splitting BANG, the sound reverberating throughout the room. On the other side of the wall, two being stopped in their tracks, one of them holding a large metal dragon. They exchanged a glance before continuing on their way.

Delta's shoulders rose and fell with her heavy breaths. The head of her attacker had been blown wide open, scattering a mix of black and green along the floor. Delta slowly lowered her weapon...what had she just done? Questions immediately started running through her, was that a bad thing to do? What even happened?

As she began to approach the body, she then let out a yelp of fear when she saw the body twitching, its fingers curling into fists before uncurling as soon as it happened. The twitching got more and more violent, Delta immediately running for cover behind an upturned piece of metal. The body finally stopped moving after a small while, finally coming to rest in a twisted position. The tentacles that had been blown away by the shot melted into the green ink, silence falling once more...until the echoes of screams continued to permeate the air.

Delta slunk away from the body, taking a corner in the maze she had previously passed on. Only two turns later she found another red dot in the fog, marching straight for her. With sweat dripping down her forehead, Delta shot back into the hall she just came from, weapon clutched tightly by her chest. The person marched by without a second thought, looking identical to the one Delta had just blown to bits. Ignoring the similarities, Delta quickly rounded the corner where the patrol had come from, the fog suddenly clearing after she passed through another hall to find herself in a room with a floor made of toxic sludge. Delta immediately pinched her nose, gagging lightly.

"Ick..." She muttered. A loud bang suddenly shook the room to its very core, Delta's uneasy legs giving out from the shaking. Her weapon slipped from her grasp, teetering dangerously near the edge of the small platform that was her only solid ground among the sludge. A small squeak escaped the girl as the weapon just hung there, an inch closer and it would be lost to the brown-green mess. Delta slowly crawled forward, her fingers touching the end of the gun, gently pulling it closer as she curled them up. After a few moments of careful pulling, Octavia finally got a solid grip on the weapon, yanking it back to her. Using it as support to stand up, she silently examined the current room, only to find...nothing. That was until she gave her own platform another solid look, finding a pink button on a pole. She walked over to it, gently pressing it down.

Nothing.

Delta sighed, slumping down to a squat...what was she supposed to do now? Nothing came to mind, and she had no way of talking to Marcus or C.Q Cumber either. She was about to turn and leave until a whirring noise filled the room, lights of all different colours flashing into life, revealing this room to be a long, long hallway with the exit at the other end barely visible to Delta. A low rumbling sounded, the room shaking as a collection of rails were raised up from underneath the surface of the sludge, their rusted metal dripping of the stinking liquid. A faded light appeared on the platform as the rails snapped into place, Delta barely able to make out the word "GO" on it. Her foot gingerly left the ground, gently touching the rail. In an instant she found herself torn from the platform by a tremendous force from the rails, sparks flying behind her with her wind flapping in the wind as she shot along the metal, releasing numerous yelps of shock before she finally got her bearings, seeing herself hurtling along the track "OK...I was-wasn't expecting that."

The rails suddenly veered off to the right, a door opening in the wall to reveal the wide open space of nothingness that was the rest of the metro system. Delta recalled the tunnel opening up at points to reveal a wide expanse of nothingness besides floating objects and mist.

And now she was smack in the middle of it.

Looking over her shoulder, Delta saw the silhouette of the room disappearing into the mist, already having lost track of the one she had previously been in. Looking back to the direction she was hurtling, a bright light faded into vision from within the mist, Delta squinting at it, but was unable to see what it was. Her attempts to figure it out were cut off by the whirring of helicopter blades, a large yet rather scrappy looking helicopter flying into her view from behind, surrounded by Octarians wearing metallic hats with whirring blades of their own. An Octoling threw the side door of the flying machine off with ease, hanging over the edge with a rocket launcher in one arm. Delta found her instincts take over, she immediately pulled her weapon off her back and shot the rocket launcher out of the green Octoling's grasp, watching it smack against the rail and tumble into the abyss. Delta took a moment to register that...it was like her body acted on its own.

The Octoling shook their fist at the girl in response, snapping her fingers. One of the flying Octarians sped up before arching around and hurtling straight for Delta. The Octoling grabbed her weapon, only for an empty click to sound instead of anything actually happening. The sharp blades of the Octarian's hat were getting closer, presenting Delta with only one choice.

The moment she felt the fans were too close for comfort, she leaped off the rails, the Octarian quickly turning to face her as it passed under her only for Delta to stomp directly onto it. Her boots were drenched in the bloody remains of the Octarian, their metallic hat being sent flying off, its movements sporadic as it darted about until it came hurtling for the helicopter, smashing right through its tail, which spun off and smashed straight through the rail behind Delta. The rest of the helicopter began to spin out of control, the Octarians fleeing in an instant. The Octoling, however, leaped from the helicopter down to Delta, landing right on top of her. Delta's back ached with how far she was forced to bend back from the impact of the Octoling, who was now trying to force them both off the rail.

"IF I'M GOING TO DIE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" The Octoling screamed, their black spit dotting on Delta's face.

"I...doubt that!" Delta yelled, using all her might throw the Octoling off her. They bounced off another rail that had suddenly appeared, staining that section in their blood as the sharp edge cut right through them, their two separate pieces falling into the abyss below.

Before Delta could recollect herself, a horn echoed through the air, Delta now seeing the source of the light being another one of those metal carriages – and it was careening right for her.

Starting to hyperventilate, Delta's eyes darted about to find a way to escape the oncoming train. She could only find one solution: jumping to the other rail. Would that work, though, it had cut the other Octoling clean in half already…

Another horn reminded her of what little time she had left, taking a deep breath she made the jump to the other rail. Her upper body lunged forward as she landed, her whole body dangerously leaning close to falling before Delta was able to right herself, the silver train screaming past her. Delta saw the shadow of another room approaching, no signs of more trains coming her way, either.

"_Looks like smooth sailing from here..."_ She thought to herself, ever so carefully keeping her balance on the rail as she hurtled towards the next room. A door split open as she approached, Delta preparing to come to a stop only for the rail to cut off suddenly and throw her into another dark room. She smacked into the floor with a loud KANG, telling her there was indeed a floor to this one. Red lights suddenly filled the room with blaring alarms sounding, Delta immediately scrambling to her feet. A low rumbling filled the air, the shivering Octoling backing up in fear, only for a pair, no, 2 pairs, of yellow eyes to appear among the red. The alarms stopped, the red turning to a white light to reveal the owner of the eyes: a bio-organic monster almost solely composed of the green ink that Delta was finding everywhere, mixed with the black that the Octolings secreted from their mouths. Its mouth opened to reveal a whole horde of teeth, rows upon rows of the razor sharp things. The beast released a ground shaking roar, Delta clenching her fists with a determined look on her face.

**ELDRITCH HORROR REBORN – THE TWISTED**


	3. Numquam

Delta screeched as the Twisted came charging for her, her scream echoing off the metal walls. She dashed aside, the ground shaking as the Twisted got closer and closer, easily twisting its body to turn and face her as she ran, small specks of its body flinging across the room with its bounds. The young Octoling could do nothing to fight the beast, her rifle unresponsive and no other weapon in sight. The Twisted lunged for Delta, swiping her up in its liquid claws – with an evil grimace revealing its razor sharp teeth it unfurled its hand to reveal...nothing. The beast gasped and looked about in confusion, its prey nowhere to be seen.

Delta found herself in an odd body – a small, green round thing with tentacles looking directly up. She couldn't move her head much and only found herself squirming on the floor. Her body suddenly snapped back up, her small body melting into her original appearance "What the…?" She muttered, looking down at herself, bewildered.

Her thoughts wouldn't last long as the Twisted was quick to notice her reappearance on the floor, screeching once more. Delta found herself frozen as the beast loomed over her, its stinking saliva dripping around her. Cast in darkness, the young Octoling could only ever so slowly back away from the monster, the Twisted's coarse, rough breathing sending shivers through her skin. Her foot suddenly hit an upturned piece of metal, tripping her onto her rear end. The Twisted saw its chance, slowly stalking towards Delta as she desperately tried to scramble away, only to fail all the same. The Twisted suddenly charged at her, the green haired Octoling screaming at the top of her lungs as the thundering footsteps stormed towards her, shuddering the very foundation of the battle arena. Covering her ears and closing her eyes, Delta accepted her fate...only it never came. Slowly opening her eyes once more, she found the Twisted looking straight up at an open hole in the roof, two shadowed figures watching them from above. From the hole one of them dropped a bent metal rod with a white cylinder around it...what was that? Delta found no time to ask as the hole suddenly sealed itself, the Twisted grunting at the brief distraction before turning its attention back to its meal. Just as the beast let out another screech, Delta ran for the weapon that had fallen from the hole, grabbing it and swinging around to face her opponent, her grip so tight the metal handle collapsed slightly under her fingers.

As the Twisted charged for her once again, Delta released a roar of her own as she slung the weapon with all her might, a loud BANG shooting throughout the room as the impact sent the Twisted reeling. The power immediately bewildered both of them, the Twisted in shock that such a tiny morsel had so much strength in it and Delta unable to comprehend how she did that, and as to why that didn't break the weapon in two.

The Twisted was right back onto the attack, Delta instinctively holding the weapon above her head and flinging it forward, painting the floor in front of her in a large splotch of ink, the colour of which perfectly matching her hair. The Twisted didn't slow down at all, opening its jaws as wide as they could go. Delta had a clear view of its mouth now, seeing rows upon rows of more teeth going right down its throat, blood coating each and every last one. Delta screamed as she flung the weapon towards the Twisted once more. The beast's jaw suddenly totally unhinged, a thick black substance shooting out from the back of its mouth and grabbing the weapon with a firm grasp, wrapping itself around the rolling part. The Twisted froze in position as a tug of war commenced between the black substance and Delta, the beast's eyes staring straight ahead. Planting her feet as firm as she could get them, Delta let out another scream as she yanked the weapon free from the black mess' almost impossible grip, flinging parts of it through the wall. Before Delta was even on her feet again the spots of black that had flung out of the Twisted's mouth immediately leaped back into its throat. The Twisted snapped its mouth shut and stood upright once more, releasing a primal screech into the room. Delta stood her ground, clasping the weapon as tight as she could, sweat dripping down her entire body. She could _feel_ the back of her shirt sticking to her back, an uneasy expression on her face. The Twisted suddenly went silent as it began stalking in circle around Delta, seeming to be sizing her up. The Twisted knew that it couldn't take any more chances with this meal...it wasn't to be underestimated for its size. Distant noises crept into the room from the deep dark corners of the metro, the noises violating the suspenseful silence. Delta gulped as she and the Twisted started circling one another, an odd sensation in her legs. The Twisted then charged once more, snapping Delta up in one of its claws before she could even bring up the weapon. Its four eyes glared directly into her soul, terrifying the girl. She was thrown up into the air with a scream of fear as the Twisted's thousands of teeth revealed themselves once more, the black goo in its mouth showing itself again. Delta looked at her weapon, gripping it tight _"No other choices..."_ She looked at the teeth below her, spreading her legs on the way down. Her feet barely caught the edges of the Twisted's mouth, now finding herself suspended over death itself by only her heels. She jammed the wide part of the roller down the Twisted's mouth, the beast gagging as it tried to wrench it free or crush it but found no results. Delta snapped the handle off, only to yelp out as one of her feet gave out, her hands gripping to the Twisted's upper face. Her legs dangled over the edge of the darkness, the goop slowly creeping up toward her. Delta barely pulled herself up in time, the goop seeming to react violently to its loss. Delta screamed out as she jabbed the sharp metal fragments of her weapon's handle into her opponent's eyes over and over, black blood shooting out in all directions, caking Delta all over her body. Its eyes absolutely mutilated, the Twisted began to thrash about, its blind rage consuming the room as the walls began to cave, scratches dents and its own body being left in its wake. Delta was thrown off, hitting the ground with a solid thud, watching the rampaging monster from a distance. The rolling part of her weapon snapped in two at least, being consumed by the messy blackness inside the Twisted. It scraped itself against a jutting out piece of metal, leaving a writhing, slimy chunk of flesh impaled on the twisted scrap, the Twisted roaring and screeching out in pain upon the loss of such a large chunk of its body.

After what felt like ages of the Twisted writing and lurching about, it finally came to a standstill in the middle of a roar, its head arched up towards the ceiling as colour faded from its body until it was a simple grey husk. Black liquid started to seep out of its wounds, bit by bit forming into a large puddle beneath it, bubbling slightly. The husk of the Twisted creaked and groaned before exploding into a large mess of the black ink, Delta throwing her arms up to shield herself from the splash, only for it to splatter to the ground only a few feet away from her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she took a step forward before freezing...something about this black goop felt wrong. She shouldn't be so close. She doubled back on herself, backing into the corner of the room.

Her suspicions were confirmed when a single eye suddenly opened in the ink, its pure red iris staring straight at Delta. Shivering, Delta found herself locking eye contact with it, the two of them simply staring for a good 30 seconds before the black mess formed itself into one blob, the eye splitting into two before squeezing itself through a hole, vanishing completely. Delta was once again surrounded by silence.

Her legs suddenly gave out, the young girl wincing in pain. Looking at her thigh, she could see her biker leathers had been cut straight through, revealing the skin beneath along with the wound, blood trickling down her leg. With a grunt of pain she forced herself back up, looking around for her own way out of this metal arena...only to find nothing. She was stuck.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, she fell back to her knees, remaining there with her eyes closed for two straight minutes.

And that was when it happened.

A blinding blue light suddenly filled the room, Delta clenching her hands over her eyes to protect them from the incredible brightness of it all. It soon faded, now only a gentle glow in front of her. Slowly opening her eyes once more, Delta found a sparkling gemstone in front of her, just hovering there.

Her hand gingerly reached out to grab it, utterly enamoured by its beauty...and it was just a simple blue stone. She quickly swiped it up, holding it tightly.

But the instant the stone touched her skin, her mind went dark, thousands upon thousands of images, moments and flashes of people she didn't recognize at all running through her head at a speed she couldn't comprehend. What was all this, where we they coming from? Her thoughts just couldn't be processed, leaving her stunned and blank.

A whole lifetime seemed to pass before Delta's senses came back to her, finding herself back at the end of the foggy maze she had passed through only recently. The stone was in her hand, which she quickly slipped into her pocket. But just then something entered her mind...a name.

And that name was Trinity.

Putting her hand on her face, Delta groaned out as she tried to think of anything she had seen in those flashes, only to draw nothing in her head. Sighing, she tightly gripped her rifle once more and headed back into the maze.

**30 minutes later…**

She was lost. Mentally berating herself for getting stuck in this place, a place so bone-chillingly cold that she had felt flakes of ice forming in her tentacles. Every time she thought she'd found the stairs away from this place she just found herself twisting further into the chaos of this place. The fog didn't get lighter, it was still as thick as it was when she left the room the first time. The cold air stung her wound, the girl wincing from time to time with each pang of pain that ran through her nerves. Finding a place to rest, Delta slumped down against the cold steel, clutching her rifle against her chest. She couldn't hear any squelching of the Octarians that patrolled this maze...she was safe, at least that was what she hoped.

A few minutes of well earned peace passed, the young girl occasionally looking at the stone she had procured...was this one of the Gems of Eternity C.Q Cumber had been speaking about? Yellow sparks dotted its surface in a cross-like fashion, Delta noting that it was cold to the touch.

Her thoughts about the stone were soon interrupted when her hiding spot was pounced on by an Octo-Copter, which let out a screech that echoed through the maze. Delta pounded her rifle into the Octo-Copter, killing it, only for hundreds of Octarians of all kinds to surround her, numerous clicks and whirs sounding as they readied their weapons to destroy the teenager. Cowering away, Delta tried to think of _any_ solution to this problem.

And then the earth shook.

The weapons were lowered, the Octarian forces looking around in confusion. Another quake, the entire maze shaking from the force of this all. Every quake was joined a loud and very close banging noise...as if it was coming from between the walls of the room itself. A loud metallic screeching suddenly sounded out as the entire west wall collapsed, falling to dozens of pieces down into the shadowy abyss. The Octarians turned their attention to the wall, seeing a pair of figures standing there. One was incredibly tall, with a slim hourglass figure and one was a bit shorter with a chubbier, more pear-shaped body. The tall one was surrounded by an orange flame, and the blue one was glowing with a similar blue aura. Two pairs of green eyes stared down at the sanitized Octarians, a horde of battle cries sounding as they leaped and charged at the new infiltrators, the duo assuming fighting stance in response.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Ignis

The two women obliterated the horde of Octarians that had charged at them in one hit, a torrential wave of green splashing out through the air as their bodies were destroyed. The ink that was launched towards them didn't faze them one bit, leaving mere stains on their clothing and skin. One of the larger Octolings dropped her weapon and ran at them as they landed, the impact sending out a shockwave that tore through anyone that was unlucky enough to be too close. The attacking Octoling screeched as she reached out to grab the blue-haired one, her target reacting in an instant and clasping their hands together, the two of them glaring right into each other's eyes as they struggled against each other's force – the blue woman seemed mildly surprised at the strength of the Octoling, the green-skinned woman planting her feet firmly in the ground and pushing against her foe with all her might, the black liquid seeping out of her mouth from between her teeth.

A soft blue flame began to surround the blue woman until it suddenly spiked up, her green eyes sparkling with power as she released a primal scream that echoed throughout every corner of the Metro. The Octoling released a painful screech as its arms were torn clean off, black blood spurting out of the stumps where her arms used to be. The large Inkling dropped the arms by her sides before driving her fist straight through the Octoling, who stood there in shock for a moment, totally frozen, until the fist in her torso was retracted and she fell over with a thud.

Meanwhile, the taller and more slender of the duo had been dispatching their attackers with ease, often only needing to hit them once before they were either obliterated or fell over dead, often smashed into two pieces by the woman's incredibly powerful legs. The whole battle seemed to last only a few seconds, corpses and body parts littered about the area until only a single Octoling remained. Throwing off her metallic plating, she pointed to the tall, slender woman who stepped forward, lightly gesturing for the other one to go check on Delta.

"You gonna be alright? You know their bosses are strong." The blue woman asked her, only for the taller one to simply laugh in response "Alright, sis, but don't get bitten." She quickly made her way over to Delta, squatting down by her "Hey, young lady." She said softly and warmly, her smile putting Delta at ease, but her heart was still pounding in her chest, her breathing continuing to shake "Scared?" The woman asked, to which Delta only nodded "Yeah...this really isn't a place for a kid. We'll help ya out of here, I promise."

The Octoling and Inkling in the back charged at each other, exchanging heavy blows and throwing each other around, a torrent of red blood spurting from the tall woman's mouth as the Octoling slugged her straight in the face. Her lips curled, revealing her sharp fangs to her opponent, a guttural snarl coming from within her. She charged for the Octoling, swiftly pinning her under legs before putting her palm out only a few inches from their face, a red glow forming in front of her hand. The Octoling struggled under the woman's sturdy legs, only to find themselves totally stuck under her.

"Bon voyage!" The woman yelled before a tremendous red light and explosion filled the room, shaking it so much part of its were torn from their bolted down spots, any ink in the vicinity vaporized to nothingness. Once the smoke cleared, Delta could finally get a look at the devastation caused by that lone fight: there were no corpses left, presumably all disintegrated in the blast, the maze had been totally levelled for a good few meters, exposing wiring other things usually hidden away. The woman lowered her arm, her trousers coated in the remains of her victim. She slowly got up and yawned, stretching her arms above her. As she turned around, Delta took the chance to fully take in her appearance. She was tall, had orange hair which was swept mostly to the left of her face and a crown of tentacles at the top of her head which lead into an incredibly long ponytail. She wore a black vest that exposed most of her upper body, along with...whatever those big things on her chest were, two belts that crossed over, grey trousers and white boots. Her eyes matched the woman by her side, the both of them looking at Delta, perplexed and concerned.

"Ix, can you come here for a second?" She asked, Ix standing up and walking over to her sister. Ix, as this other woman was called, had messy blue hair, matching green eyes to the other woman and wore a jacket that went down to her shoulders with a dirty "white" vest underneath. Her legs were covered by black and white striped tights, although a lot of her skin was exposed by large holes torn in them, and red boots on her feet. Delta couldn't hear a word of what they were muttering to each other, only knowing that they were occasionally glancing in her direction before practically pressing their faces together to communicate with how quiet they were being. Delta said not a word, just watching the two massive women in silence. She then went and picked up her rifle, looking it over. It didn't seem to be broken, but still definitely needed whatever it was she was firing put back in it. A few minutes passed, Ix and her sister still quiet and Delta just lay against a piece of metal that had been torn up from the ground, ever so slowly catching her breath. A sudden incredibly loud CLAP made her whole body jolt, the tall woman's heavy footsteps approaching her "So, kid, what's your name?" She and Ix squatted down to her level, Delta sitting up slightly.

"Delta." She responded, brushing her hair aside.

The tall woman smiled "It's nice to meet you, Delta. My name's Rem, and this," She gestured to Ix "Is my sister, Ix."

Delta's response was just a silent wave.

"So..." Rem adjusted her vest, flipping up the collar "Where are you from?"

"...Here." Delta replied.

Ix blinked, titling her head "Whaddya mean?" She questioned, leaning forward slightly.

Delta looked around for a moment "I woke up in this place. And then someone called Marcus found me and-"

Rem held her finger up, silencing Delta "I hate to interrupt you, but we're going to have to get outta here, like, right now. We figured out a time limit for when they drop new troops in these places – we stay in here when they drop in again and we're dead meat."

Delta just nodded, quickly getting up to her feet as Rem and Ix stood up straight, Ix nudging Rem with her elbow "It's a good thing you didn't vaporize the exit, else we'd really be in trouble." She looked over the mildly burned stairway, Rem just giving her a bored look before walking ahead.

_The Station, a few minutes later_

Finally returning to the light of the station, Delta let out a sigh as the tension even being in one of those room brought to her faded away. Rem stood close to the edge of the platform, looking down the tunnel, then strutted over to the other side, letting out a groan when she saw no lights, nor heard any howling winds approaching "Looks like they're going to be a while."

"Shit..." Ix grumbled "I'm covered in this gunk, they should hurry up." She tried wiping off the gunk and ink she had stuck on her skin, only to spread it further along her arms "Ugh..."

Delta, however, was quietly looking around the station, trying to find the thing she felt staring at her before she had first descended the stairs, but the only red she found was the blood that shone in the light of the lone flickering lamp that hung from the ceiling of the station.

"Hey, Delta," Ix spoke as she approached the young Octoling "Earlier you said you met a guy named Marcus...right?"

Delta nodded.

"So you're the one he mentioned….did he say anything about being with other people?"

"Mhm," Delta nodded "He mentioned he had some friends out looking for things..."

Ix smiled, crossing her arms "Well, how 'bout that."

A good while passed of the three females simply waiting for their train. On the odd occasion a harrowing sound would echo through the tunnels, be it the screams of the victims of this hellish realm or the screeching of the many trains that populated the tunnels. The screams sent chills down Delta's spine, how Rem and Ix didn't seem to react to this at all perplexed her entirely.

An eternity seemed to pass before a train finally pulled into the station, Delta scrambling up to her feet from her position of lying down on the tile floor, Rem and Ix almost immediately springing up from the bench they were sat on, having been leaning against one another.

The metallic coaches hissed as they came to a stop, a second of silence passing before the doors slid open, only for no one to exactly spill out of the train, only 2 eels slithering out. Rem, Ix and Delta quickly made their way on, Delta immediately sitting on the closest seat to the door whilst Rem and Ix stood in the middle of the carriage, both of them facing different gangways that lead into their carriage. More minutes of silence passed until the train finally took off into the shadows once more, eventually coming out into another misty expanse, filled with floating devices of which Delta didn't know how to comprehend.

"Well I'll be, you actually did it!" Marcus' voice came from the end of the carriage, Delta's head quickly turning to look at him. Rem and Ix loosened their stances as their friend approached, carrying a bag over his shoulder, C.Q Cumber trailing behind him "You're real tough, kid."

A smile instinctively crept over Delta's lips as she brushed her tentacle hair aside once again, "Huhuha," she sheepishly laughed "thank you."

Marcus' eyes went to Rem and Ix, greeting them with a simple nod "I see you ran into Rem and Ix...how convenient was that, eh?"

Ix smirked, smiling proudly "I'd say we ran into each other at good time, she was surrounded by a buncha Octarians, but we kicked their asses and saved her!"

Rem chuckled "I guess ya could say it was good timing, yeah."

"Well," Marcus put the bag on the floor, shrugging "At least you're all safe." And it was then he noticed just how messy all three of them were, especially Rem and Ix "Well, I should hope the showers are working today."

Rem grinned and scratched the back of her head, just laughing as a reply.

"So," Marcus turned his attention to Delta "Anything happen?"

Delta nodded, recalling the events of her time in the hellscape below them to Marcus, how she'd found her way through the maze, the fight on the rails and the encounter with the Twisted "And when it exploded...the weird black good was alive, and it had eyes...then it just ran off..."

"Wait, wait, wait." C.Q Cumber interrupted as he jumped up to the armrest on Delta's seat "A black goo with eyes? Is that what you said?"

"Yeah." Delta nodded.

Rem, Ix and Marcus exchanged uneasy looks, C.Q Cumber looking down and releasing a low "My god...he's still alive."

"He?" Delta questioned "What are you talking about?"

C.Q Cumber cleared his throat "See, kid, for as long as I can remember working here, there's been this...thing in here. Long ago, in some other realm, a bunch of scientists were trying to make a bio-weapon to win a war, but instead they ended up making...the Inkblot Disease. It's some kind of virus that assimilates its prey into this hivemind of its own. But even then, it's part of this larger hivemind. From the notes we've found that fall into here, each part is called a Cephamalgamation. We've confirmed that this one in the Metro is the only one in this Universe, but how it got here...we still don't know, and that was 50 years ago."

Delta was silent for a good few seconds after C.Q Cumber stopped talking until she got out the question "How many people has it absorbed?"

"Millions is my guess." C.Q Cumber responded "Johnny isn't one to take prisoners. Once he's found you, you're part of him."

Delta blinked "But he ran away from me."

That collectively caused all four of the adults to gasp, Rem having a hint of actually being impressed hidden in her look of shock "You scared off Johnny!?"

Delta nodded "I...already said he ran away from me. Were you not listening?"

"Guess not," Marcus put his hands on his hips "I guess the whole fact you encountered Johnny put us too bewildered to hear you say that."

Ix took a step closer "How did you do it? We've ran into Johnny a few times before, and we had to fight our way out. He almost got Rem at one point, too."

Rem gagged at the mention of that "I can still taste him..."

"He was part of the monster...I guess me destroying it scared him? Did he ever control something when you fought him?"

"No." Rem shook her head "He took us raw."

C.Q Cumber hummed "He's getting smarter, this isn't good."

"But when he ran off," Delta reached into her pocket "This thing appeared."

The blinding blue light of the stone Delta had procured earlier filled the cabin, Delta somehow not needing to shield her eyes this time, but everyone else immediately recoiled from it for a good while until they felt the light start to fade away, cautiously lowering their arms and returning their gaze to Delta and the stone, Marcus' jaw falling open when he saw exactly what Delta had hovering above her palm "Holy fucking shit, kid – you found one of the gems."

"T-That's what this is?" Delta asked "I...didn't think of it like that."

C.Q Cumber stared at the stone, utterly enamoured by its shimmering glory "If I'm right, that's the Soul Gem."

Rem and Ix stood in the back, silently watching the conversation unfold, occasionally exchanging a small mutter between themselves.

"The books were a bit old, so they were washed out but just- wow, kid, that's impressive. And in your first few hours here, too." C.Q Cumber said proudly, one of his spikes lengthening out and tapping Delta on the back.

Delta smiled proudly, only to be interrupted by a long yawn, her eyelids going half shut the moment it ended "There's something else, but...so..." Her eyes suddenly closed completely, her arm going limp. Marcus swiped up the gem before it hit the ground, looking into its sparkling interior.

"Ya did good, kid." He smiled as he lay the young Octoling out across the seats "Ya did good." He held the gem out to Rem "It's best you hold onto this. If anyone wants to get their hands on, they'll have to go straight through you."

Rem gently took the gem, both she and Ix staring at it for a moment before Rem stuffed it into the pocket dimension between her breasts.

"Oh, by the way, Rem, Ix." C.Q Cumber spoke up, slithering towards the big sisters "Something came in for ya earlier." He handed them a walkie-talkie, Rem shrugging and flicking it on.

"What-"

"YO IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME YOU GOT THIS!"

That voice didn't exactly make Rem and Ix happy. None other than Pearl from Off the Hook.

"Pearlie, don't be so loud, they might be on a train..." Marina spoke in the background.

The plastic cracked under Rem's grip, she immediately turned around sticking one leg into the air and holding the walkie-talkie behind her "**IRRELEVANT TRASH!**" She screamed at the top of her lungs as she hurled the device with all her might down the train, it sailed through every carriage until it smashed through the door to the cabin at the very end and straight through the metal exterior, continuing on for a while before it began to fall into the abyss below.

"YO, WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON OVER THERE!?" Pearl's voice echoed into the darkness, silenced as it smashed into a layer of rock. Among the shadows, thousands of pairs of eyes opened at once, all staring at the remnants of the handheld comms device...


	5. Proelium

Slowly opening her eyes to an expanse of black sand, Delta groaned as the grogginess of her mind blurred her vision, the twilight sun locked in position in the western horizon, dark clouds stretching across the sky. Of course...Delta knew nothing of all this, leaving her merely confused once her vision cleared..._Where am I?_ was her immediate question _This isn't where I closed my eyes._

Slowly pushing herself onto her feet, the young Octoling simply looked around the dark wasteland, every aspect of it so alien to her...despite the unending shadow, it all felt so serene.

"Marcus!?" Delta called out into the dim light. No answer. She called out for the other three she had met, but was met with only a howl in the air, her hair waving in the gust.

The girl hastily spun around, trying to find anything else in the vicinity that wasn't part of the stretching flatlands of black powder. Slowly spinning a full turn, Delta suddenly found herself at the edge of a sharp drop, her toes perfectly aligned with the edge, her eyes instinctively snapping down to view the drop, which despite the inky blackness that perpetuated it, felt as if it was writhing and rolling in on itself. Delta found her feet bolted to the floor, frozen there despite how much she was screaming at herself to move away from the edge.

And then the darkness looked at her.

Hundreds of eyes opened at once in the shadows, all red with small black pupils, all rapidly looking around for something until one locked its gaze on Delta. The other eyes froze and a second later all began staring directly into Delta's very being, sweat quickly running down the girl's forehead.

She yelped as a hand suddenly slapped onto the cliff face, made out of the goopy black substance she had seen Johnny made of, Delta's feet finally unsticking themselves from the floor. She immediately took off in the opposite direction of the ink blackness as another hand hit the floor, a humanoid body pulling itself out of the darkness with rows of sharp teeth adoring its mouth, dozens of red eyes dotted across its body. It let out an unearthly screech as it began a rapid chase after Delta, globs of its own body being flung around as it tripped over its own trickling ooze, catching up to Delta in mere seconds. The young Octoling shrieked as she looked over her shoulder to see the approaching horror, which made a tremendous leap for her, the girl's throat straining from her incredible scream as the being's mouth swung open to an extent she never thought possible.

Delta shot up in an instant, screaming and scrambling out of her seat. She fell to the metal floor as she tried to shuffle from where she had just been lying, only to back into something soft. Looking over her shoulder, she found Rem looking down at her, the tall woman being sat against the row of seats opposite with Ix lying sound asleep across them. C.Q Cumber and Marcus, however, were nowhere to be seen. Delta simply looked at Rem in silence, her body shivering all over.

Rem spoke with the most soothing tone Delta had heard yet, gently putting her hands on Delta's shoulders and massaging her slowly "You alright, luv?"

"I..." Delta choked out "There was this thing..."

Rem hummed "Sounds like you had a nightmare. Poor thing." She watched Delta's forearms quietly, seeing the shivering vanish as she continued to massage the girl _I shouldn't be surprised, though._ Rem thought, looking down the carriage for a moment _This isn't the place for a kid like her...even if she did wake up here only today._

"Where are you from, Rem?" Delta asked after a few minutes of silence, gently leaning further back against Rem "Did you wake up here, too?"

Rem chuckled "No, darling. I'm from somewhere...well, I dunno where it is in regards to this place but my home is a place called Ooinkhu. You might like it there, when we get out of here. I got a family there, too. My boyfriend and 3 kids...technically 4, haha." She smiled as she thought of her home "We'll bust outta here, eventually. Ix has a family of her own, too. We'll introduce ya."

Delta hummed a simple "Hmm..." in response. She then had another question "Rem...does this place scare you?"

Rem thought about that...at just 20 she sure had seen her fair share of scary and horrifying stuff, her mind immediately thinking back to the time Future Leonidas had his organs ripped out and face torn off at just 15 and how that managed to make Callie puke...even if the vampire did regenerate from it all just 30 minutes later. She finally answered Delta's question with "I'm not sure, luv. I've seen some stuff in my life already...but there's new things for me here. But hey, listen, no matter what happens," an earnest smile appeared on her lips "we're your friends, we're all in this together, no matter what."

Delta couldn't help but smile at that, feeling her eyes slowly closing again "Thank you, Rem..." She let out a long yawn before she went right back to sleep against the titan of a woman, who slowly stroked the girl's head until she was certain she'd drifted off, eventually falling asleep herself.

At the very front of the train, Marcus and C.Q Cumber were busy inspecting a map they had strewn out across the train's controls.

"So, my guess is that the Victoria Line has nothing else of importance to us." C.Q Cumber pointed to a blue line on the map that stretched from the centre all the way to the left edge of the map "But the question is where the rest of the Gems are...there's 5 more of them and 10 more lines. Hittin' a dud could be bad if Johnny or the Sanitized show up."

Marcus crossed his arms, muttering a few things to himself before responding "Yeah, Delta finding the Soul Gem was pure luck, really. Unless the Gems resonate, we're going to just have to go through these one by one."

C.Q Cumber looked behind him at the mention of the Gems resonating, an idea striking in his head "We could try making them resonate. It's worth a shot."

Marcus nodded "Reinhardt always did have that kind of mentality. If we had more notes on the Gems, though...ugh, of course that slimy bastard had to eat our guy." He clenched his teeth as the frustration of losing so many important assets came back to him, time and time again they'd be right on the edge of solving their dilemma only to be sent right back to the start…he sighed and went back to the map "Which line is closest to us right now?"

C.Q Cumber looked back at the map as well, inspecting it closely "Well right now we're around here," his spike elongated, tapping on a point halfway between the middle of the map and the far left "Tentacle Circus is the one we just left, so our next opportunity to switch tracks is...3 hours away, onto the Central Line." He retracted his spike, shuffling the map away and adjusting the train's levers "Everyone should be awake by then."

"Everyone except Delta." Marcus commented "I feel bad roping a kid with no memory into this, but...well she wants to find herself out, I guess." He looked out the small window to his left, seeing the misty expanse of the void once again consuming the entire space "...I miss 'em, ya know."

"I know, Marcus." C.Q Cumber responded "But just think: we found a Gem. A real one. And if things go our way, we'll be out of here in the week."

Marcus silently nodded, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a slightly damaged picture of his wife and daughter – Callie's smile, Mysteeri's very being, it gave him resolve to continue this fight.

**2 hours, 56 minutes later**

"She should be up by now." Marcus crossed his legs, slouching in the driver's seat of the cabin "Ix!" He called out to the blue haired woman, who popped her head round the door.

"What?" She questioned, rubbing one of her eyes.

Marcus spun the chair to face her "Go get your sis, will you? She needs to hear the plan for getting the next Gem."

Ix nodded and quickly zipped away down the train until she came back to the carriage she had been sleeping in the night before. Rem was still sitting there, Delta having moved during the night to be lying across the ginger woman's thighs. Rem turned her gaze to Ix when she entered, gesturing for her to be quiet "She's asleep." She said in a hushed tone.

Ix pointed her thumb over her shoulder "We kinda need you at the front."

Rem rolled her eyes "Well bring the front to me, then. I'm not going to wake the little one up!" She said through clenched teeth, gently brushing one of Delta's tentacles out of her face.

Ix scratched her head, sighing "Alright, alright. I'll let them know to come down." Just as she turned on her heel, she began sniffing the air, remaining still as she did for a few seconds, Rem watching her do it. Ix then turned back to her sister "We should find some other working showers...the men may be able to deal with how bad they stink but ugh, this is unbearable."

Rem shrugged "Alright, but don't get too worked up over it. We have priorities, remember."

"Yeah, yeah." Ix waved her hand as she turned around and walked back down to the front of the train, leaving Rem on her lonesome in the carriage.

That was, until a hand suddenly smashed through the roof, oozing a green slime. Rem immediately looked up at it, watching the hand tear a hole in the metal rooftop until a sanitized Octoling dropped in through the opening, a physique rivalling the Inkling's. She sighed, looking at Delta "Of all times for one of you to drop in, you had to do it when she was asleep..." She ever so gently lifted Delta off her, placing her upon the seats. Rolling her arm, she tightened her belts and prepared to fight, the two fighters staring each other down. The Octoling charged for Rem, who immediately reacted with a roundhouse kick, sending them crashing into the wall. She was back up in an instant, slamming their fist into Rem's cheek. Rem swept the Octoling's foot out from under them, gracefully swinging around and kicking them in the gut with force to send them flying through the carriage.

Rem stood firm, her imposing presence filling the area around her "I'll give you one chance to get outta here. I'm hungry, we got a kid to look after and in general I'm feeling a little pissed off right now." She cracked her knuckles "And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

The Octoling's reply came in the form of an unearthly yell, springing up from their down position and charging at Rem. The two of them immediately began to exchange rapid blows until the Octoling slipped their first through the duel and crashed it into Rem's chin with a WHAM, sending Rem recoiling back and then sent her straight to the floor with a flying kick, the metallic impact echoing through the mist.

Rem pushed her torso up, snarling with fangs bared. Her long, thick tentacle suddenly sprung to life, whacking itself into the Sanitized Octoling as Rem let out a loud "DORA!" The tentacle wrapped itself around a nearby pole and slung Rem onto her feet, where she immediately wrapped her legs around the pole, hanging upside down from it as the Octoling righted themselves, staring at Rem in earnest confusion about her position. Nevertheless, they charged for her once more, leaping into the air but only smashed their face right into the pole as Rem suddenly spun around on it, switching herself upright and slamming her foot into the Octoling once more. At least, that's what would've happened if the Octoling didn't grab Rem's foot. Slamming back into the floor with a KANG, Rem was immediately leapt on once again by the Octoling. Her legs shot up and planted themselves firmly in the Octoling's stomach, grabbing their wrists with an iron grip, the Octoling's sharp nails only inches from her eyes.

"Oh to hell with being quiet!" Rem snapped before she released a tremendous scream, enough to send a quake through the whole train, alerting the group at the front and numerous passengers further down. Delta immediately shot awake, staring in shock and awe at the tremendous flaming aura that surrounded Rem. In an instant Rem tore the Octoling's arms right off, black blood coating the floor. In one movement, Rem grabbed the Octoling and threw them out of the window into the abyss below and their arms with them. Her aura faded as she stumbled back to the pole, breathing heavily "What the hell...that was just one attack, why do I feel so...drained?"

"Um..." Delta murmured, Rem immediately looking towards her "What was that?"

"Nothing, darling." Rem chuckled "You just go back to sleep."

Before Delta could respond Ix came charging into the carriage with C.Q Cumber on her shoulder "What tha bloody hell is goin' on!? You coulda shaken this thing off the tracks!" C.Q Cumber barked, a red tone forming inside him until he saw the pool of blood near the doors and sighed "Another attack?"

Rem simply nodded in response.

"Damn..." Ix growled, then noticing Rem was out of breath "Sis...are you OK?"

"Yeah, yeah." Rem mirrored the hand waving movement Ix herself had made earlier "Just – powering up drained me a lot. Might not be used to it or something."

Ix simply hummed in response, crossing her arms "Well...anyway, we need to go over the plan."

**Inkpool Street Station, some time later**

Delta stepped out onto the bleak and dank station "Bye, guys." She said over her shoulder.

"Stay safe, DD." Ix smiled as the doors closed, the sisters keeping their gaze on Delta as the train vanished into the darkness once more.

The ringing came back.

Delta looked further down the station, seeing the exact same phone from earlier now illuminated by a spotlight. A feeling alone compelled her to approach, her hand swiping up the metallic rod once again "Hello?" She spoke, her answer being a few seconds of breathing before…

"Delta."

It was the same guy from last time "Y-Yeah, that's me." Delta replied.

"Good." The voice responded "I hear you found a Gem of Eternity."

Delta nodded with a simple "Mhm."

The voice laughed "Well that's very good. I'm proud of you."

Delta didn't reply to that, simply looking around the station, a gentle howl of wind blowing through.

"Where do you want to go when you escape?" The voice suddenly asked.

Delta blinked...she had never thought of that...where did she want to go? Of course, her first priority was finding out who she was, but after that…

"I don't know." Delta spoke quietly, tangling the chord of the phone around her finger "I guess- I guess where ever Rem, Ix and Marcus go."

"The Promised Land, eh?"

"Promised...Land?"

The voice sounded surprised "They didn't tell you? They're _from_ the Promised Land."

Delta thought back to what Rem told her last night.

"_No, darling. I'm from somewhere...well, I dunno where it is in regards to this place but my home is a place called Ooinkhu. You might like it there, when we get out of here. I got a family there, too. My boyfriend and 3 kids...technically 4, haha."_

"Rem didn't call it the Promised Land – she said it was called Ooinkhu."

The voice chuckled in response, the sound of something being scribbled being faint in the background "I see...well I guess I got so used to it being called the Promised Land around these parts that I forgot its real name. Thank you for reminding me, Delta." The voice groaned suddenly, numerous clicks audible behind them "Anyway...I believe you have a job to do, don't you?"

Delta nodded "Yeah...bye." She quickly hung up and looked towards the set of stairs that once again led into an inky consuming darkness...all too similar to what she had seen in her sleep. Swallowing her fear, she made her way into the shadows.

On the ceiling of the station, dozens of red eyes opened up in unison, watching the Octoling go. Teeth of the same substance formed, as did the rest of a vaguely humanoid face.

Johnny released a hoarse echoing chuckle through the tunnels, slipping into the vents of the facility.


	6. Sanguis

Blood.

It dripped from the cracks and holes among the metal walls of the hellish pit.

A spectrum of a bloody rainbow coated the floor Delta walked upon, sickly greens mixing with deep crimsons and vibrant blues, the pungent stench enough to have made Delta vomit upon entrance, her boots squelching in the rotting liquids of death.

Like the maze before, the room seemed to stretch out for miles into infinite oblivion, nary a soul to be felt in the shadows.

Unknown to the Octoling, under her very feet lay the amalgamation of a million lost souls – Johnny, waiting and plotting for his next meal.

Delta questioned herself – what was she looking for? For now, all she could to answer that question was to continue further in. From under a grate, Johnny popped his head out to examine Delta...the thousand voice mind filled with ideas to take her. But for now, he slipped back under cover.

Delta grabbed her rifle off her back, a loud KER-CHUNK echoing through the darkness as she loaded one of the few bullets she had been supplied with into the chamber, her stance lowering as a cold chill washed over her, a low hum resonating in the air.

Suddenly, the entire bloody floor unified into a glowing purple that illuminated the room, revealing carcasses and skeletons of all varieties strung from an unseen ceiling, Delta taken in awe at the sheer size of some of them – her entire body wouldn't even come up to the heel of a handful, but their rotting flesh, the blood coated bones, all nullified any sense of wonder from the girl as soon as it came.

Suddenly, a low rumbling echoed through the darkness of the void. Delta gasped and readied her weapon, aiming among the inky blackness of nothing. The rumbling turned to a crackling, throaty noise, scuttling steps approaching from within. Out of the blackness, a large, bipedal lizard emerged, covered in pale yellow and deep purple scales with a glowing green eye. As Delta's shining purple ones met the shining green, both of them stood completely still, simply observing the other party, the creature releasing curious grunts. Delta responded with a nervous gulp and shaken breath...what was this thing? The question permeated her mind.

The two were both taken aback by a sudden pulsating noise echoing throughout the shade, the creature immediately recoiling in pain, releasing strained shrieks into the air as it writhed around on the floor, coating its body in the glowing purple liquid.

From within the darkness, numerous red lights appeared, pin prick black dots among them, all glaring directly at the writhing creature.

In a flash the creature was suddenly back up on its feet and screeched right in Delta's face. With a terrified shriek, instinct took over the girl's body and she blasted the lizard's head to smithereens. Its body crashed to the ground, lifeless as the ear-splitting shot echoed into the dark, the spent casing splashing into the glowing purple at their feet.

A few moments of silence passed, the red lights simply observing in the back. Another pulsing sound echoed, the creature's body twisting and contorting as it was pulled back to its clawed feet by some unseen force, the blood, guts and bone slowly reforming into its fully reformed head. Once the creature's head had fully reformed, it lunged for Delta, only to be smacked aside by a colossal pillar of black goo. Looking over her shoulder, Delta only saw a red eye look into her very essence as Johnny jumped over her and smacked his entire mass into the creature, his head forming with his jaw opening to a level Delta thought impossible for anything, the ungodly beast's roar screaming and echoing all throughout the abyss of the Metro, meandering in the misty despair.

The lizard responded with its own roar, Delta scrambling off as the beasts began circling each other, guttural, primal growls crackling in the air.

Johnny bellowed as he lunged for the beast, which responded in kind by smacking him away with his tail, splatters of the inkblot scattering among the purple floor, seeming to glide over its surface. Unfazed, Johnny resumed his vicious assault, grabbing the lizard with a giant claw and sending it flying in Delta's direction. The Octoling bent over backwards at an angle that surprised even her, briefly making eye contact with the lizard as it sailed over her, its pupil dilating as it stared into her. The purple splashed around as the lizard smashed into the ground, twisting and turning back up to its feet and charging at Delta once again, her body locking up as a cold wind went over her skin.

Then everything went dark.

On the outside, Delta's eyes turned jet black with only a single white unified pupil and iris among the darkness that filled her. With no hesitation or hint of mercy, she aimed her rifle at the beast, loading another bullet and firing it the instant the chamber closed, the creature releasing a shriek of pain as the bullet tore into its arm. Marching forward, Delta's lungs remained still as pure instinct drove her forward, another KER-CHUNK sounding as the bullet casing was dispensed, replaced in but a second, another tremendous BANG shocking the air, followed by a primal screech of pain. From a puddle of bubbling black, Johnny watched with intrigue and fury as his kill was tormented by bullet after bullet, Delta's cold, dead expression unwavering.

The same purple liquid that covered the floor seeped out of the wounds of the sickening creature, the sight of its continued existence only sending further instinct to kill through the body of the Octoling. She placed the muzzle of the rifle right between the eyes, exasperated gasps rolling out from between the bastard's teeth.

The screech that came from Johnny as he reformed his several feet tall, muscular body only got the reaction of a shifted gaze from the Octoling, a tremendous, yet somewhat squelchy, hollow THWAK resonated in the air as Delta smacked her first into Johnny, sending him tumbling back to the ground. Delta's rifle slid off the neck of the creature she'd just finished torturing, scraping off a few loose scales as it was dragged over them. Slithering toward the shared prey in the form of an eight legged beast, Johnny roared with vehemence of hatred rife in his eyes. Her white dots of irises now reduced to the size of pin pricks, Delta's rifle shot up in an instant, blasting Johnny to dozens of pieces with a well placed shot right into one of his eyes.

Silence fell as the echo of the gunshot vanished into the void.

Delta nonchalantly returned to the downed lizard, but – she didn't finish it. Loading the rifle with the repeated hollow KER-CHUNK, she just watched the downed creature in raw silence.

The pulse sound echoed once more.

Not waiting less than a fraction of a second, Delta immediately began firing once more as the force tried to pull the lizard's body back together, but each consecutive blast only shattered its body to more bloody pieces. The lizard's head was smashed to an uncountable number of bone and brain matter after Delta had unloaded what her body told her was a suitable number of bullets, the pulsing sound fading into the darkness. The beast was still. Fallen, defeated, it finally had no unseen force from which to draw its own continued life.

And everything came flooding back to Delta.

Falling to her knees from the sheer barrage unto her senses, her breathing became ragged and shaking as her eyes went from their abyssal black to her pure white and rich purple. Her gun hit the ground with a hollow THUNK as Delta's hands clutched her face, her shoulders rising and falling with her fearful gasps for breath, the fresh smell of her rifle's smoke lingering in the air around her.

**Elsewhere…**

Hefting a chunk of metal as large as a house with just one arm, Rem casually tossed it aside into the endless drop below the devastated arena, the beaten and eviscerated metallic remains of the Octo Stomp Redux lay strewn around the middle of the ink covered arena, the oil that seeped out of the tank in the middle of the arena mixing with the luminescent green.

"Anything!?" Rem called out to her sister.

Ix poked her head out from behind the largest chunk of the Octo Stomp – its torn off face that sparked with wires, a mixture of liquids pouring out from where its eyes should be "I'm not feeling anything, Sis!" She shouted back, lightly tapping the devastated weapon's face. With a loud, echoing groan it began tipping over backwards until it smashed into the ground with tremendous force, shaking the arena to its core, anything hanging too loose from the walls and ceilings succumbing to the power of gravity.

Groaning.

The ears of the sisters pricked up as the groan washed over the platform, creeping up their back like a spider and penetrating their heads, unnerving even two of the strongest people in the hellscape. Gently yet cautiously walking to Ix's side, the pair observed the chunk of metal that once lay next to the tank of oil that leaked its fluids into the painted floor. The groaning was joined by wheezing, muffled screams hidden among the noise of the dead.

Ix gently approached the metallic chunk, knocking the back of her hand against it...it was hollow, to an extent. The pair exchanged a glance before giving each other a concerned nod.

Ix ripped off the front of the container, throwing it aside with ease.

The sight of which it held made both women's skin turn the palest of white, their bodies turned cold with sweat forming almost immediately. Rem's fingers trembled, Ix's legs shaking to a point of almost buckling underneath her as she staggered away from the sight within.

Rem spun around as fast as she could, squatting down with her hand slapped over her mouth. Her vision blurred with the tears that filled her eyes, her breathing turning to heavy, wheezing gasps. Ix sprinted over to her, stumbling on her way – she grabbed Rem in the best hug she could, their eye contact telling each other all they had in their head.

**The abyssal black**

The ominous glow faded into nothing among the purple blood...ink...whatever it was, Delta didn't care. A few minutes of fearful sobbing had passed since her senses overloaded themselves – it was so...dark…

And the sound of monstrous breathing her reminded her she was not alone.

Grasping her rifle, she scrambled to her feet as fast as her mentally and physically exhausted state would let her, eyes dashing about to try and spot the one thing that she couldn't see.

"Hah...hah...ngh, come on…!" She gasped, hefting her gun up and aiming forward. She was met with dozens of red eyes staring back at her, Johnny slithering forward into the unexplainable circle of light that surrounded Delta. His humanoid form had been substituted for that of a mass of tentacles as black at the abyss that surrounded them. Delta's finger began to squeeze down on the trigger of her rifle, Johnny leaning back slightly to begin his process when the stand-off was interrupted by the purple liquid flashing back into life, a the section between their feet starting to bubble, but that only lasted for a few seconds before a cold mist washed over the surface of it all, icy particles forming over Delta and Johnny's legs. The liquid began to harden before flowing into the spot between them like it had never frozen in the first place...into the form of a glowing purple gem.

No hesitation or holding back, Johnny swiped the thing up in one of his tentacles, where it sank into his liquid skin, the top of the glowing gemstone poking out the top of his limb. The same pulsing sound suddenly shot through the air once more, Johnny released a feral screech as a purple light radiated off of his body, his eyes fading away into nothing as his liquid self rippled and shuddered, electricity sparking over him with his jaw open at a near one-eighty degree angle. His screech reached an ear splitting crescendo before he exploded into a mass of purple and black energy, Delta immediately blinded by the blast.

…

…

…

Delta awoke to an odd smell, a smell that she had never felt before, but whatever it was, it was a good smell. As her vision became clearer, she could soon make out the silver box of a train that screeched around the metro...and a few more. Dozens, actually, but most of them seemed heavily damaged, save for the one closest to her.

Slowly turning her head to her left, she was jolted fully awake by a white fox mask with red accents staring right at her, the mask's wearer giving her a confused head tilt, his hand reaching up for his hand, which is when he realized the presence of the mask, placing his hand on different spots before easily removing it.

Marcus chuckled as he revealed his face "Did I scare ya?"

Delta hastily nodded.

"Ah, sorry, kiddo. I forgot I even had it on – I found it when I was out looking for supplies." He then gestured to Delta's other side "We found some more food, too – enough to make something edible."

Delta looked to her right, on top of an oddly clean plate lay a hastily made cylinder of meat resting in a fluffy looking...bun, was it? She didn't care what it was, in an instant she wolfed the whole thing down, Marcus' eyes going wide as the hot dog disappeared into Delta's stomach "Wow..." He followed up with a whistle "You must've been hungry."

Delta then looked down at herself – there wasn't a sign of the purple, bloody mess that had coated her earlier "What happened?" She questioned "Before all this I was-"

"We washed you up." Marcus shrugged "Well, when I say we, I mean Ix washed you up. She was the only one who could find a working shower before that stuff took you over."

Delta gasped "Took me over!?"

Marcus nodded "There were traces of Johnny in that purple mucus you were caked in – Cumber estimated it'd take you over in 2 hours if we weren't fast."

Delta slowly nodded, remembering the last seconds of what happened before the purple eruption "...I found him again."

"Johnny?" Marcus quizzed, to which Delta nodded "Mmm...I see...where is he now? He clearly ran off again if you're still alive."

"He exploded."

"Exploded?"

Delta gave another nod "The bloody purple stuff on the floor turned into a stone, when Johnny tried to pick it up, he exploded – I don't know what happened after that."

Marcus didn't answer, instead standing back up, muttering to himself "Shit shit shit shit shit..." over and over and over "GIRLS!" He yelled out "GET OUT HERE!"

"WE'RE NOT DONE, YA PRICK!" Ix shrieked back.

Marcus growled before yelling even louder "JOHNNY'S GOT A GEM WITH HIM!"

Silence.

Until both Rem and Ix came crashing in, both dripping with water "He got what!?" They yelled in unison.

**Deeper into the darkness**

"You idiot." A shadowed figure stood above Johnny, the beast's red eyes now turned a luminescent purple "I asked for the girl, not the stone! She needs to get those!"

Johnny responded with an angered gurgle.

"Johnny, we have an agreement, respect it or I'll make you part of the next batch!"

Johnny hissed.

"Use it how you see fit for now, but you're going to need to get rid of it eventually. We both know those things can't hurt me."

Johnny huffed, then slithered away into the drains of the hellscape once more, the shadowy presence turning around to face a glowing collection of vats and cases, many of them filled with liquids and others – filled to the breaking point with all kinds of sea creatures, begging for release from the corpses and death.

"First, the Sanitzation, and now..." Their massive smile reflected the cyan light of one vat, a purple light shimmering in the darkness "The Purification."


	7. Machina

Delta blinked as she felt a pair of eyes looking directly at her – briefly observing the train car, she saw Ix hastily look away the moment she turned her head in her direction, bouncing her foot as she did "Ix?" She asked, the somewhat chubby woman turning her head back as if she hadn't already been staring "Are you alright?"

Ix looked away for a split second before answering with "Eh...yeah, yeah I'm good." Her eyes glanced up to the green messy tentacles on Delta's head before resuming eye contact.

Delta looked up to the bits of tentacle she could see in her upper vision "Is something in my hair?"

Ix shook her head ridiculously fast "No! No! Sorry, just, green hair...reminds me a lot of mine and Rem's Mum."

Delta slowly nodded, thinking back to her talk with Rem yesterday...if that was truly yesterday. She slowly opened her mouth and asked "Is she…?"

Ix's slow nod and long, deep sigh gave Delta the only answer she needed.

"She was nice, though." Ix said, leaning back in her seat "Kind, always knew exactly what to say and she was a total badass." She then gestured to her snoozing sister, who was stretched out across the opposite seats "Sis looks a lot like her...just with ginger hair and a ponytail." A soft smile appeared on her lips "We do miss her...she would have loved to see her grandkids."

Delta slowly nodded, fiddling with her loose, messy strands of hair as she did. Just then, the train zoomed through a barely illuminated station; though Delta saw something in it. Staring right back at her in the few seconds was a person with silver hair and a metallic body, completely caked in a rainbow of blood. Ix glanced out of the window Delta was staring at, eyebrow raised before shrugging. She then took note of Delta's shocked expression "What? You see something?"

Before Delta could answer, a thunderous BANG echoed throughout the entire train – although despite its volume, Rem didn't stir at all. Ix and Delta shot to their feet as heavy footsteps began to rapidly approach, the source blasting through the carriages and anything that got in their way until they burst into the carriage the women were in, revealing themselves to be the very same person Delta had seen on the platform.

"DAD!?" Ix shrieked as the cyborg leapt into the air, a murderous grin on his face with his blood-soaked sword raised above his head. Ix jumped away as he smashed the sword into the floor before kicking her father away into the wall, yanking his sword out of the ground and clutching onto it. The cyborg let out a primal grunt as his single eye gleamed with a red light "MARCUS! CUMBER!" Ix screamed down the train" STOP THE TRAIN! NOW!"

After only a few seconds, sparks began to fly from the screeching wheels as the train began grinding along the rails, the screeching send a cold chill through Delta's teeth…

The cyborg screamed as he charged for Ix, reaching out for his sword. In the blink of an eye, Ix was across the carriage, glaring at her father. The silver haired menace then lunged for Delta, the young Octoling barely bringing her arms up in time to guard from the kick – the hard metal sent an incredible surge of pain through her forearm – and it was only made worse by his continued assault until Ix grabbed the cyborg and wrestled him away from her, her arm firmly locked around his neck.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, JACK!" Ix screamed as loud as she could, throwing the sword away, which planted itself into a seat. Grabbing Jack's other arm, Ix tightened her arm around his neck, only for her dad to hurl her into a wall, her size creating a dent in the metal. Jack ripped his sword out of the ground and with a menacing cackle, his voice echoed throughout the mist the train had screeched its way into.

"DID YA MISS ME, GIRLS!?"

A bullet when whizzed right by Delta and into Jack's chest, Marcus emerging from the other end of the carriage carrying pistol, which he blasted bullet after bullet from into Jack, sending the psychopath reeling. The train then jolted to a complete halt, throwing everyone to the ground. Rem, however, just rolled onto her side.

With an ominous red flame encompassing him and his manic smile remaining plastered upon his face, Jack barely even moved his arms as he stood back upright, Ix keeping an angry glare on him as she stood. As Marcus and Delta got to their feet, the blue haired inkling held her hand to her side, briefly glancing over her shoulder "Stay back." She then slowly returned her stare to Jack "I'll take care of him."

Ix slightly bent her knees, hands clenched into fists as she too was surrounded by a faint blue flame radiating off of her. Jack cackled as he pointed his sword toward Ix "You're going to try and stop your own Dad, eh?"

Without a word, Ix blasted him at supersonic speed, the resulting sonic boom shaking the train cars apart from such an incredible release of energy. Smashing through the walls of each carriage, Ix eventually smashed Jack out of the back of the train, the two of them sliding to a halt dangerously close to an opening to the previous void of mist they were in. Jack snarled as he threw Ix off of him, flipping backwards as he got up and landing neatly on the rail, suspended above the nothingness by just the strip of metal. Ix looked over her shoulder for a second, seeing Delta and Marcus watching the standoff from the train, but in her moment of distraction, Jack slammed his foot into her, sending her straight into the wall of the tunnel. Blood splattered on the floor as Jack slashed across Ix, leaving a large gash over her stomach. A furious gleam shined in Ix's eyes as she smacked the cyborg away before yanking herself free. Falling to her knees as she hit the ground, a stronger flame appeared in her hand before she slapped it over her stomach, hissing, growling and yelling as steam came from the burning wound – as she stood up, it revealed her wound closed yet skin burned – the blood, however, still fresh, dripped down her body and stained her shirt a deep crimson.

"You're gonna pay for that!" The woman snarled before ramming into Jack once more at full speed, her father letting out a pained shriek as he was thrown to the ground as if a god themselves had thrown him from the clouds to the cold, hard ground. Ix smashed her foot into his chest, her blue flames crackling wildly. As Jack brought his sword up to slash her once more, Ix nonchalantly grabbed it like it was nothing, wrenching it out of his hand and tossing it aside, where it planted itself into the wall. Jack's reaction, however, came in the form of a continued manic smirk; his arms suddenly melted down into a swarm of metal particles before reforming into blades of their own.

Ix's surprise lead to her being booted off her downed foe, Jack lifting himself up as if an unseen force was pulling him up via strings attached to his body "Kehahaha...surprised?" His long tongue dragged along his bottom lip as he spoke.

Ix cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck "Now I guess it's time to get serious if you've gotten yourself some upgrades." Her flaming aura burst out, transforming itself into crackling electricity all over her body, releasing a tremendous scream as she lunged for Jack, who in turn responded with a furious yell, his cybernetic body gaining a crimson glow. As the two of them clashed, their colliding attacks shaking the entire tunnel, Delta, Marcus and C.Q Cumber could only watch the battle from the smashed up train...Rem, however, was still fast asleep and barely stirring besides a slight shuffle and a kick so strong it smashed the handle where her feet were to bits.

"So that's their Dad?" Cumber asked, a spike of his extending as if to stroke his chin if he had one.

Marcus nodded in reply, his scuffed clothes blowing in the light breeze of the tunnel "That's Jack alright. And from the looks of it," he squinted his eyes on Jack's sword, scratching his cheek as he examined it "Yup...he's our guy."

"Ngh..." C.Q Cumber's body completely spiked up as a cold chill ran through his translucent blue, purple and slimy skin "Wasn't expectin' a cyborg to be making the rounds in this place."

Marcus was about to cross his arms until he spotted the two fighters preparing for extremely powerful punches. Before either of the other two knew what was going on, Marcus screamed "GET DOWN!" as he grabbed onto them and yanked them to the floor, the resulting ground-shaking shockwave rumbling throughout the entire tunnel, dust and small rocks shook free from the top of the long, claustrophobic darkness. Back in the train, Rem just groaned and put her arm over her ear.

Jack's metallic claw-like fingers dug into Ix's shirt and he threw her over his shoulder like she was nothing, Ix spewing out a pool of blood on impact with the ground. A large cloud of dust kicked up from the ground as Jack smashed his fist downward, Ix's movements going still…

Delta let out a gasp as she clapped her hands over her mouth as Ix froze, Marcus immediately pulling her close in a tight hug.

What they couldn't see was Ix's furious glare into her father's eye past his fist that was held tight in her own hand. The metal screeched Ix's fingers dented it, the blue fighter pulling her father down to the ground before slamming her fist into his cheek at full force, Jack's crimson glow vanishing in an instant, barely visible before he was sent flying through the wall, creating a huge crater in it.

Delta slowly removed her head from Marcus' chest at the sound of the loud THWACK from Ix smashing her fist into her dad's face, her eyes lighting up upon the sight of Ix standing triumphant, even if she was battered, cut and bloodied.

"Last chance, Dad, quit it before you end up as a head again!" She shouted into the hole...and received silence.

Until loud, ragged breathing echoed through the tunnel.

"Where the hell did you learn to punch like that?" Jack's raspy voice came from the darkness of the impact zone, soon followed by loud grunting and groaning as he wrenched himself free from the hole, dropping down to the floor as he finally pulled himself free from it.

Ix appeared in front of him in a second, gently catching him in her arms as he fell "You're alright, you're alright..." She said in a soothing, warm tone "Don't worry."

Jack's hand clacked against his forehead as he put his palm to his head, groaning out "Where are we…? What's going on?"

"Long story. But we were looking for you the whole time." Ix replied, keeping her arms wrapped around her weakened parent.

Jack let out a weak "Heh...you're just like your mother." And with that his whole body went limp, his youngest daughter struggling to hold up his weight for a moment before summoning her strength back "Ngggahh...there we go." She grunted as she hefted him over her shoulders in a fireman carry, casually approaching the rest of the group. They briefly exchanged a glance, then Ix looked to the train, then back to the group "Buggered, isn't it?"

"Well, these carriages are, at least." Marcus looked back down the train "Looks like everyone's already moved up to the ones that didn't get destroyed, though."

Cumber grumbled to himself before speaking, "Ix, you're going to have t' wreck these ones, yeah? You are one of the two that destroyed 'em..."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Ix waved her hand as she approached "Move aside, I gotta get him down somewhere. You ever carried a cyborg?"

"No." Marcus shook his head.

"Then you don't know how heavy one is." Ix casually forced her way through the group, Delta keeping her eyes fixated on the fainted cyborg...to see the thing that created a slaughter she was born into the aftermath of right there and so...peaceful – her mind couldn't name the feeling.

As Ix slumped Jack down into an empty seat, Rem finally began to move, looking over her shoulder at Jack with her somewhat colour-drained eye, then up at Ix "Hey." She said in a tired grunt, nodding her head slightly "He alright?"

Ix nodded "Turns out he was the one behind all the slaughters."

Rem looked back at the sleeping Jack, narrowing her eyes at his scarred chest before shrugging it off "Hm." She then put her head back down, immediately going back to sleep.


	8. Silentium

The concept of a true body meant very little to Johnny – for as long as he lived, he was himself, everything he could think of, was him. But that girl…something deep in her core intrigued him. The sentience of black mass squelched and slithered through the tight compactness of the vents and shafts, diligently trying to sense the presence of his targets. However, something else caught his attention, an odd cyan glow seeping into the tunnel from below. His usual pitch black body illuminated by the light, the being slipped through the holes in the tunnel and oozed down to the floor. Eyes formed, revealing the sources of the lights – vats. Rows and rows stacked upon rows of vats, each and every single one filled with unclothed Octolings of varying sizes, shapes and ages.

His favourite food…

But despite his endless hunger for the flesh of the mortals, he felt no desire to smash every vat open and devour the subjects. He was curious – the man in shadows was often accompanied by such a glow as this. What was he hiding from him? He wouldn't live to see the next day when he was through with him, that, Johnny was certain of. Slithering down to the bottom of the vat-encased army, eyes appeared over every inch of Johnny's body as he observed the casings. Names and ages were listed on plaques at the base of each container, along with a designation.

CORA LILAC

23

SUBJECT DH-2322 – SUSPENDED STATUS

This…Cora was suspended in the green, translucent, bubbling liquid that filled the vat in a foetal position, arms seemingly squeezed shut, yet the rest of her face seemed calm. Johnny placed a hand to the glass, a purple energy radiating off of his arm before the vat exploded, shattered glass scattering across the floor and the liquid inside splashing everywhere along with it, the torrent that hit Johnny simple sliding off of his inky mass. Looking down at the helpless subject, Johnny's body melted down into a puddle that spread out over the Octoling ever so slowly. Just as Johnny's expanse reached her chest, the woman's eyes opened, her scream muffled as a hand shot out of the numbing mass, covering her mouth. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her it was sucked under the shadows, the room silent for a few seconds as Johnny writhed and bubbled on the floor before reforming his humanoid body. A holographic red "TERMINATED" then appeared in the vat, Johnny paying the broken container no heed. Another vat caught his eyes, only this one was without any Octoling, yet still filled with the bubbling fluid.

NAMELESS

33

SUBJECT EP-3 – UNKNOWN STATUS

Looking about, Johnny then noticed a lot more empty vats, some of them still containing the fluid, some empty with the red TERMINATED glowing in the middle of them. The Octoling to the right of this vat was heavily mutated…purple skin, a bulbous right eye and an incredibly long left arm – longer than their entire body by several times. They weren't in the foetal position like most others, their back seemingly snapped to put them in an arching back position.

ALEX SEHORS

17

FAILED ATTEMPT

Attempt…of what? Johnny rumbled as he stared at the hideous creature; was it even alive in there? The one he just devoured certainly was. Was it aware of its fleeting existence? A question that could not be answered.

Slithering up a few of the vats, Johnny came face to face with another purple skinned Octoling male, yet they did not possess the mutations of the one at the bottom.

OHIO TEREL

19

GENERATION 17 – ALMOST COMPLETE

And then, numerous hundred rows away and dozens of layers up, one single vat stood out among the rest. It was empty, like others, but this one…

SUBJECT D

16

ALIVE, DEPLOYED

**Many miles away…**

The metallic outer soles of his boots barely illuminated by the single light in the shadow-filled room, the man hidden by darkness that Johnny had been previously speaking to watched a myriad of screens in pure silence, save for the whirr of a few devices nearby – he could see everything, the young couple falling into a pit of putrid acid together, the eels that were flattened into bloody pancakes and many, many more mutilated bodies that filled the chambers of the metro. His glowing, light blue eye, however, was focused on one particular screen, a camera that was following none other than Delta's every movement. How she squeezed herself through tight passageways, her growing skill in hand to hand combat against the Octolings, the way she began to carry herself with increasing confidence – over the past few days the girl had slowly turned from just a stranger to the lands to what could be described as a young warrior.

The man thought to the two men and women accompanying the young Octoling, even their raw power wasn't enough to contend with what was being thrown at them every single day. But now they had his blood-fuelled experiment on their side…

Condensation exited his mouth as he released the first breath of the hour, icicles in the room revealing themselves as the shadowed being moved himself. His hand wandered over numerous dials and gears to a collection of cards, which he pulled out of their tray, his grip on them tight as he yanked a lever on his chair that made another tray of sorts pop out from the desk, the cards being dropped inside before it was slammed shut. Every screen flickered into a unified display that rapidly flashed through numerous kinds of beasts and giant weapons before stopping on a large, predominantly orange with black stripes wyvern. A low, menacing chuckle echoed through the inky darkness, a distant earth shaking roar audible throughout the entirety of the metro.

**Delta's location, some time later**

Dusting the dirt off of her jacket, the young Octoling stood over a knocked out green-skinned Octoling, their pitch black shades cracked and sparking. Her heavy breathing in the cold air gave a feeling of tightness in her chest with each one she took, her fingers quivering.

"Where did it…?" She wondered aloud, eyes scouring the area for her currently missing rifle. After a few minutes of searching, she found the battle damaged rifle in a pool of ink she'd spewn up after the attacker had ambushed her, slamming her knee into her stomach. Wiping the almost mucus-like substance off her weaponry, Delta continued forth into the chamber - only to freeze when a loud swooping noise became audible through the metal walls...she ducked for cover behind a collection of beaten machinery, and just in time, as a giant creature unlike any she had ever seen before burst into the room, the metal it sent flying by punching through the wall careening into the abyss. Its bright orange scales, large wings and black accents...did Rem get captured and transformed into this thing!?

The beast sent sparks flying as it landed, sliding along the metallic ground with the splattering ink painting its legs. The following roar it released was absolutely deafening, to the point where Delta's head felt numb from the raw, unfiltered power of the creature. Almost as soon as it was done roaring, the monster tore Delta's cover away with ease, releasing another deafening roar directly at her, enough to shake the entire chamber.

All the courage Delta had gathered fled in an instant as she let out a terrified scream at the towering beast, its stomps alone knocking her off balance every time she attempted to stand, scampering away from the creature as fast as her downed state would allow her. The beast's glowing green eyes bore into Delta's soul, the cat-like irises it had thinned down to small lines, smoke coming from its nostrils with each exhale.

And just as it was about to swipe at her, its foot landed on an Ink-Mine, the sharpening beeps making the creature turn its head to the direction of the mine, only for the sheer force of the resulting explosion knocking it clean off its feet. Delta tried catching her breath, only for the creature to immediately get back up, an enraged roar sounding once more that penetrated the shadows that surrounded the suspended chamber, which it followed up with a powerful swipe from its tail, shattering the metal that stood in its way and tearing up the ground with its claws with more sparks scattering across the room. Delta grabbed her rifle, holding it tight as the beast continued to stomp towards her. in the quickest motion her body could muster, she fired the weapon at the beast's face.

The shot hit it square in the eye! It screeched, roared and writhed in pain as the blood caked the side of its face, a small yet uneasy smile forming on Delta's face. Her victory was short-lived as the beast glared at her once more, wisps of fire appearing from the gaps between jaws…

With another thunderous roar, the beast took to the air, immediately opening fire upon the Octoling with a barrage of flaming blasts, the ink that coated areas of the floor setting ablaze in a raging inferno, basking the monster in an ominous red glow. Barely finding cover behind a black block, Delta noticed a large chunk of metal lying on the floor nearby...something the beast had not noticed yet. It was big, bigger than her whole body and then some - yet there was a large slab of twisted metal and concrete at the end and a large pipe at the part closest to her. Gently creeping up to it, she clutched the pipe in both hands, growling and straining as she attempts to lift the giant club off the ground.

"Come on, Delta…!" She growled through her clenched teeth, the twisted, makeshift weapon ever so slowly leaving its resting place on the ground…

The monster released another roar then dived headfirst for Delta's position, smashing straight through the brick that covered her - and to Delta's own surprise, in that split second, she lifted the club like it was nothing, smacking the monster round the head so incredibly fucking hard that entire chunks of its tough skin came off before it was sent careening into a wall, the metal partially collapsing upon it. Delta looked to her weapon, which had shattered down to just the pipe from the impact - the smashed up skin from the monster didn't seem like it'd be much help, either. Before she could think any further, the monster erupted from within its temporary prison, charging straight for Delta with its mouth wide open!

Much to the surprise of both, however, the charge was interrupted by a sizable blue explosion, followed by the roaring inferno seeming to gain its own mind, hurling blobs of ink from within itself at the monster, burning holes straight through its wings. Rem and Ix dropped from above, standing firm between the beast and Delta "Well, this is a new one." Ix crossed her arms "Wasn't expecting to see this kinda thing round here."

The monster went ominously quiet, glaring at the two new arrivals to the fray. Rem seemed to have the cloak coming from her belt flowing over Delta like she was shielding her from the beast, an odd light breeze blowing through the arena.

The monster then roared once more and continued its charge, the sisters moving in perfect unison as they sent it skyward with an uppercut, the beast diving for Rem after it corrected itself. The woman dug her feet into the ground, metal screeching and shredding as Rem caught the beast's impact, sliding back from the force - sweat dripped down her forehead as she strained against the almighty beast's unyielding power, her eyes meeting that of the monster, both of them filled with an endless fury "You better…" She grabbed the monster's jaw "FLOCK OFF!" With what she made look like the easiest of movements, she sent the monster into a rapid spin on its side, Ix coming in as a glowing blue blur which smashed the beast into a crater on the floor, pummelling it repeatedly as it responded with wild struggles and high pitched shrieks. The monster's tail then smacked into Ix with a solid THWACK!, sending her tumbling through the air; a booming pulse of energy shot through the chamber as Ix came to a complete stop over Delta, Rem running up to the shivering girl "Oh, luv, I'm so sorry...are you alright?" She gently embraced the Octoling, holding her in a hug that run the most calming warmth through Delta's core.

"Guh…" Delta shook her head once she was released "I'm f-fine. It just-just took me by surprise."

Rem responded with an oddly stern glare "Are you sure, Delta, your eyes tell another story."

"..." Delta looked away, shuffling her feet as she did...finally building up her courage in this hellpit, only for it to be shattered by that one roar? It was...humiliating…

"SIS!" Ix cried out as she ripped one of the monster's claws clean off "A little hand here!" She bounded up to the infernal beast's side and plunged its own claw into its skin. The shriek of pain from the beast would deafen most people.

Rem patted Delta's shoulder "Ix and I are gonna hit it with what we can, you hit any soft parts that get exposed!" She pushed Delta's rifle into her hands before she took off in a mad dash toward the behemoth, which was flailing and bashing itself into the walls and floors in an attempt to throw Ix off its back as she pummelled it repeatedly with back-breaking punches. She zipped from spot to spot with every attempt the monster tried to ram her between it and a wall, the monster releasing roars and hisses of annoyance and rage every time its attacker zipped off at the last second.

Its annoyance was completely blown away by a blast of pain and rage as Rem, coming up from seemingly nowhere, slammed her foot into the its jaw, sending it tumbling down to the opposite end of the room, numerous scales and spikes flying off it.

Delta's vision went black, her body slumping over. But before she hit the ground, her arm shot out to stop herself, clouds of cold mist coming from her mouth with every breath. Slowly, she raised her head, her eyes had returned to their pitch black state with white pupils – this time, however, they were visibly shrinking with each passing second. Without a word, she pushed past Rem and Ix, rifle clutched tightly. Her sights locked onto the beast's exposed flesh as it charged for her, the rifle letting out a crack that split the air as it fired, the bullet digging itself deep into the monster's shoulder, blood spewing like a fountain. Silently, and without a hint of mercy, Delta continued to fire at the beast, blasting out bones in its legs, making it fall to the ground with an earth shaking thud. Just as Delta was about to fire a shot directly at its remaining eye, Ix dashed up from behind and grabbed Delta in a bear hug "Delta! Enough, calm down!"

As Ix wrapped her arms around her with enough force to totally immobilize her arms, Delta's pupils rapidly expanded back to their standard size, the white washing over the black in an instant, the immobilized monster was glaring right back at her, still kicking despite its wounds.

"I'll put it out of its misery." Rem walked past the two of them and up to the beast. Its attempt to snap her arm off failed miserably. The ginger woman placed her hand on the beast's nose and in a simple flash of light, the beast went limp and silent. Rem began clambering around its body, inspecting its parts and even yanking out chunks of flesh "This thing could last us a good few weeks!" A huge, goofy grin appeared on her face, something that hadn't appeared in months "Ix, go get the bag!"

"On it!" Ix nodded, gently releasing Delta "You OK, darling?" She spoke softly, crouching down to Delta's level "What happened there?"

"I...I don't know." Delta shook her head "I was out cold."

Ix hummed, putting a hand to her chin "Well, at least you're back. We'll try and figure out what that was later." She turned around and began to run off, only for all three women to freeze when a metallic groaning echoed from the floor. Before either of the unnaturally quick women could react, the floor under Delta gave way, her scream of raw terror vanishing in seconds, as did she, into the dark pink mist.

"DELTA!" The sisters shrieked, running to the edge of the hole. The Octoling was gone, only a murky abyss to meet them.

Almost immediately, Rem's eyes began to water, whatever light there was glistening off her cheeks "No…!"

**Thousands of leagues below**

Delta didn't know how long she'd been falling – 15 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? All she knew is that when she hit the ground, it was going to hurt.

And hurt it did. She slammed into a pitch black solid floor, surrounded by darkness. Her left arm twisted itself way out of position, her chest crumpled in and her leg bent in a way it never should...the sheer nothingness of sensation, even as she adjusted to her surroundings in her broken state, it was...harrowing. Her throat filled with both ink and vomit, both of which came out in a disgustingly coloured mess that coated her front.

Before she could barely move an inch, however, hundreds, thousands, no, millions, of red eyes opened in the darkness, all around her, even below her...was she going insane, or was this who she thought it was?

Her question was answered by the eyes closing and then all reforming on what looked like a wall before her, continuing to keep their gaze on her. A face like that of the beast she had just fought formed from within, the whole thing dripping its black ink all over her legs as it stretched closer before reforming into a face she never wanted to see again.

Johnny, with all 4 of his eyes focused intently on her, slowly opened his mouth – a simple breath came as the form of millions of pained screams layered upon one another, begging for the cold embrace of death, any kind of release...at least, that's what Delta's guess was. In reality it was all just an incoherent amalgamation of screaming, Delta's skin going cold as the face got closer, the blotches of Inkblot on her legs spreading over her, her feet already feeling numb.

There was no escape. Both of them knew that. Strings of the inkblot suddenly filled Delta's mouth, loud gags coming from her as it was forced open, Johnny wrapping his body around her arms and forcing them behind Delta's back – her legs part of the mass now, the thick darkness spreading up her waist in seconds, creeping over her chest, the numbing feeling keeping up the whole way. Her arms were swallowed next, eventually leaving only her head. The vanishing girl let out her own scream, straining her throat as it happened, only for her mouth to be filled with the darkness. The mound that once was Delta's arm tried to reach skyward, only to be met with nothingness.

Encroaching darkness. Black.

Nothing.


	9. Coelum

Rats skittered about the dank, dark and gloomy floors, their tiny paws scrabbling together whatever scraps of food they could grasp, no matter how rotten or dirty. Their scavenging was interrupted as a bright light appeared in the blackness, shining a silver gleam across floor, the sound of metallic footsteps getting ever closer to the rodents. In an instant, they scattered, squeaking, back into their messily carved homes in the rocks – the sharp claws that ended Jack's feet sent out loud bangs with every step that hit stone. A swarm of black and blue particles orbited his wrists, faintly illuminating his forearms, barely revealing the hilt of his drawn sword. He stopped dead in his tracks as a single drop of the liquid the sanitized Octarians gave off hit the ground in front of him with a simple 'Plip!'

Turning his light upward, he was met by some kind of Octarian he had never met before, a long, slender creature with two bulbous eyes above a circular mouth filled with teeth, its slick body covered in glowing pink pustules, its swift movement onto the ground revealing its sickly green back was...glowing. The green liquid seeped out from between its teeth, Jack silently assuming a battle stance as the creature sized him up. In the brief moment, Jack took another, more careful, look at the creature. Whilst its back still glowed in itself, it was covered by two long, thick tentacles, the middle of their suckers growing larger pink pustules, four odd growths on its underside showing themselves as it reared up to release an unearthly screech before it charged at Jack. Lightning sparked as he brought his blade up, bolts of electricity scattering throughout the tunnels as it clashed with the horror's teeth. Almost as soon as the clash occurred, Jack broke it off by kicking the monster in the stomach, both of them being sent into a backflip, the cyborg's landing creating small craters where his feet were.

The creature's whole body shook as it released another shriek, a thin blue mist filling creeping out of the numerous grates in the area as the screech echoed among the darkness. Jack threw his light into the ground, illuminating the now revealed crossroads in the silver light. His sword vanished into his wrists before the orbiting particles joined up with him, forming into sharp, black blades with a glowing blue ridge that came out of his forearms, leaving a trail of a blue light as Jack brought them up to his front.

"Come and get some!" His ragged voice cackled, his ferocious foe responding with another shriek, Jack giving it a suitable psychotic yell of his own. The snake-like monster lunged for Jack, letting out a painful cry as its exposed underbelly instead got impaled by one of the arm blades and it was thrown right into a wall "Was that all?" Jack hissed, carefully observing the glowing substance he had extracted from the creature on his blade. The Sanitized bled a similar colour to this blue, but this time it was giving off an ever so faint glow, albeit it was hard to see in the light the one he had placed was giving off.

In his moment of distraction, the beast got back up in less than a second and dashed towards Jack, knocking him clean off his feet. The murky water splashed up against the stone as the cyborg was sent crashing to the floor, his claw-like fingers digging into the creature's skin, deep enough to draw further blood. It struggled and lunged at Jack's chest, the white blood in his system only pumping hotter with every lunge until he threw it face first into the concrete, slamming its teeth against the rock repeatedly, each smash getting stronger and his yells getting louder until the snake-like beast was nothing but a bloody mess, as Jack snatched up his light it revealed the radial glow the creature's blood gave off, enough to envelop a small area around it in the cyan light. Shaking his blades free of the substance as they returned to orbiting his wrists, his blade returning to him, Jack left the corpse to rot in its own blood among the shadows.

Just as the metallic man began to vanish further into the darkness, a pair of bloodshot eyes forced themselves out of the creature's skin, its teeth returning to it in mere seconds. Larger, bulkier fangs burst out of its lips, soaked in its own blood.

Huffing, Jack stopped walking to observe the growing thickness of the mist...was it acidic? His head snapped to face down another long, dark hall in the system, an odd green light shifting to pink occasionally flickering at the very end of it. It was almost mesmerizing to the cyborg. Before his foot could even leave the ground, however, he was jumped by the creature once again, having doubled in size already.

Snarling, Jack thrust his sword upward to the creature, only for its new set of fangs to grab it "Son of a bitch!" He scowled, him yanking his sword away slicing the bottom lip of the creature's mouth wide open, a puddle of blood splattering onto the floor.

Watching the creature as it reeled from the slice, Jack's clench on his sword only tightened as it suddenly sprouted seaweed from its chin, its high pitched screech piercing his ears. The beast smacked Jack with its tail, the bricks in the wall collapsing over him. The beast lowered itself to the floor again, a rotting stench of blood, corpses and gunk filling the mist as it stalked its prey, its eyes focused intently on the rubble. In a flash of lightning, Jack burst out of the rubble, standing strong.

The creature began to writhe and throw itself into the walls, its skin bulging and pulsing as its pustules burst, releasing a smell so horrid even Jack couldn't describe it, more than enough to make him gag. Gangly, mutated arms erupted out of the skin where the pustules were...but deep under all that mutilation and blood, Jack could make out one thing.

Octoling arms.

Its cry faded into a painful wail of dozens unknown, Jack's tentacles curling from the blood curdling cries. The monster smashed its head into Jack, sparks and small bits of rock flying through the air as he skirted along the concrete floor, his arm blades reappearing and digging themselves into the ground, the silver haired man glaring up at the...thing with his glowing red eye. It was like it was fighting itself, lurching itself into walls, scratching its own skin off, all whilst its cries echoed throughout the sewer-like halls.

Spinning his sword on his palm before sprinting toward the creature, his battle cry could be heard all throughout the tunnels as he leapt into the air, his whole body illuminated by crackling lightning. The creature tried to scurry off, only for its tail to be snagged by Jack's sword, its resulting scream of agony piercing Jack's ears, his hands shooting up to cover them. The thunderous sound of its footsteps got ever so rapidly close Jack couldn't even lower his hands an inch before he was thrown up into the air, smacking into the ceiling with a hollow WHUD! before dropping into the gross liquid below. Still the blue air continued to thicken as Jack got back on his feet. As his white blood dripped from his mouth into the putrid liquid below, the combatants stared each other down, an evil glare slowly forming in Jack's eye, unwavering even as the creature's skin burst to reveal more eyes under its pre-existing pair, the green blood seeping out of the fresh wound where its tail once was.

Jack's ears perked up suddenly, the sound of distant music filling the halls – techno, electronica, whatever it was, it was getting closer by the second. The monster seemed to pay it no heed, its lower row of arms twisting in an indescribable away to allow it to stand upright, it towered over Jack now, the cyborg only giving it a grunt as he swiped his sword out to his side, liquid splashing as he once again made a mad dash for the creature.

"I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL!" He shrieked as a bolt of lightning burst out from his body, searing the walls around him. The creature made no noise as it dashed to the side, Jack's sword coming down on a metallic...thing. As soon as it did, a whirring filled the air and Jack was blasted away by a white explosion of light and energy. He hit the ground with a solid WHACK, rolling for a few feet before coming to a stop, smoke radiating off of his entire body. The blue fog was as thick as ever, yet Jack could clearly make out a single glowing red dot among the all consuming cloud.

A rather tall and slender Octoling emerged from the fog, clad in a black snapback, loose black shirt with a mess of an emblem on its front, her matching trousers and boots covered in scratches, tears and wholes. Her skin, however, stood out like a thorn. It wasn't the sick green the rest of the sanitized were, it was a bright, glowing cyan, the exact same colour as some of the...fluids the monster, now standing beside her, had previously spewed up. Her shades released an ominous hum as the red glow flashed bright, the crimson light filling the fog.

Snarling, Jack cracked his metallic knuckles, sparks flying from within "And you are?" His creaking voice was rife with anger, his body barely able to hold his voice box together.

The Octoling remained totally still for a few seconds before answering with a monotone "Deadfish. With a one."

Jack's battle stance only grew in intensity upon hearing that name "So you're the one who has the posters all over the stations, huh?"

Deadf1sh nodded. Ever so slowly. She brought her hand up to her shades, adjusting them as the hum from the glow faded in once more "You've been out of line for far too long now, Reaper."

Jack gave Deadf1sh the snarl of an animal in return.

"The head wants us to bring you back to him alive..." Her vision ever so slowly turned to the monster by her side – a screech unlike anything on the planet came from inside her as she yanked an arm clean out of the monster, its screech almost as befitting of its torturer "Something this THING clearly doesn't have the brain power to understand!" The glowing woman turned their head back to Jack "You are going to come quietly. The leader wants to try something on you."

"Oh yeah!?" Jack yelled, throwing his arms downward. Blades thrice as large as the ones he had previously summoned burst out of his arms, his whole back sprouting dozens of spikes "Come and get me!" His face was promptly covered by the same black particles that formed his blade, blue lights shining over it once they had formed into a solid mask.

Deadf1sh snapped her fingers and simply pointed at Jack, the monster screeching once more and dashing toward Jack.

Almost immediately it lost an entire row of arms in a single slice from Jack, its mix of both sick green and glowing cyan blood churned in the liquid below, illuminating the metallic weapon of a man from below. Jack drove his blade through the beast's chest, its splitting wail growing in intensity as it bulged out in size even further, its head now pressing up against the top of the halls as the entire row of arms burst out of its skin once more.

"What the hell is this thing!?" Jack yelled as he jumped away from the monster slamming its head into the ground, sending the liquid that covered the flow hurling upward. Before Jack was even on the floor it charged him again, scraping its face along the floor, leaving a trail of blood mixing into the liquid in its wake before lurching up and grabbing him in its fangs, Jack's arm blade slicing open one of its eyes as he yanked out one of the beast's fangs, dropping to the floor with a loud BANG, even with his neat landing. Crushing the fang he was holding into a fine dust, Jack's upper lip shook under his mask as he growled, fangs bared "I've let you live long enough!" He bounded into the air once more, hands clasped together as he brought them over his head before throwing them down, a loud SHHHCLACK squelching in the air as the soft underside was cut wide open, blood and numerous grossly coloured guts spewing forth into the stinking liquid, the monster shrieking and howling into the darkness before it fell over in the pool of its own organs. Jack's masked faded away, as did his arm blades and spikes, as he turned around to face Deadf1sh, who was in the exact same position she was before what could barely described as the fight started, like she was nothing but a statue watching the man with a cold stare. Summoning his blade to his hand, Jack gestured to the beast "What was that thing?"

"A Chimera." Deadf1sh responded in her flat tone.

Jack looked to the fresh corpse, shrugging his shoulders before returning his gaze to the DJ "Looks nothing like the Chimera I know of."

No response.

Deadf1sh turned around and pulled a turnable from within the mist "That matter won't be important to you for now."

A shrill ringing filled the blue air as Deadf1sh slammed her hand onto it, Jack's vision going black in an instant. He smashed into the ground, limp.

Coughing and spluttering, he awoke on a soft burgundy carpet floor, groaning, his body creaking and hissing as its mechanisms kicked back into gear.

Wait, I know this place, he thought, spinning around to take the room in. The grey walls, black and red furniture, the black marble top kitchen counters...there was no mistaking it, this was his old apartment – his family's home.

As he turned to face back in the direction he had woken up facing, he saw her. The scuffy red boots, tight leather trousers and incredibly creased vest...all leading up to her wild, shining green hair.

"Stubborn little thing, aren't you?" She questioned without turning to face him.

Jack clenched his teeth, taking a sharp breath before speaking "M...I'm so sorry..."

She quickly turned to face him, that sassy smile she had always kept the same as ever "Babe, I told you that I want you to be happy, didn't I?" She walked up to him in the same way she always did, giving her hips a playful sway with each step "C'mon, my rough n' tough guy ain't gonna stop now, is he?" She lightly punched his chest, Jack staggering back from the force – despite all the years they'd known each other, he could never expect how powerful even the lightest taps from her were "Honey, you're capable of more things than you realize." She pulled him into an embrace, Jack softly wrapping his arms around her waist "Now, what did I always say?"

"Heheh..." The cyborg chuckled "You're right. Get back out there..."

"And eat that whale." They said in unison – she planted a firm kiss on his lips before a blinding white light filled the room.

Everything came crashing back in a rush of black and white vision, Jack lurching in his yell of shock as his eye shot open.

Only inches away from him, he saw a folded note standing in the murky liquid.

"BE BACK SOON"

It was like a robot had written it down from how straight and uniform the handwriting was. Jack's immediate attempt to stand was met with a force immediately yanking him back down. Turning his head to look at the source of the force, he saw electrical shackles binding him to the floor by his hands and feet…

"Ohh...shit."

**C.Q Cumber's train**

Slithering over the controls, Cumber turned his body up and yelled down the carriage "Marcus! We're getting back to Station 14!"

Marcus made his way into the cabin only a moment later "Good, Jack should be done with his scouting by now."

"And any word from the girls?"

"No." Marcus said as he shook his head "Hopefully Rem's still got the gem on her."

Cumber gestured to the window "About that – she dropped it off in here before she went off scavenging with Ix."

The glowing blue gem was sitting right there, not even giving off its blinding radial light. Paying that no mind, Marcus crossed his arms "Ugh – it's been days and we haven't found even a hair of info on the other stones. And who knows what Johnny's been up to with the one he got." He sighed as he looked out the window "Honestly it's a little- HOLY SHIT CUMBER HIT THE BRAKES!"

Not even questioning Marcus' sudden panic, and in a speed unnatural for a creature like himself, Cumber jumped up to the emergency brake and yanked it straight down, the screeching wheels against the rails audible for miles throughout the metro system.

The train came to a shrieking halt only inches from an Octoling stood on the tracks, totally still.

Deadf1sh's shades hummed as the light flashed on, immediately making direct eye contact with Marcus. And as soon as their eyes met, a tremendous explosion rocked the tunnel, the entire train immediately buried under hundreds of pounds of rubble.

**2 hours earlier…**

"Be safe out there, kiddo." Cumber lightly slapped the back of Marcus' leg as he stepped off the train "Remember, it's whatever metal we can get."

"Got it." Marcus nodded "Hm, it's like we've built an entirely new train with all the times we've needed to replace parts, eh?"

Cumber nodded before giving a stern and gruff "Now get moving!" The doors hissed shut before a mechanism in the train's insides began to grind into action, the noise sending a cold chill through Marcus' teeth as the giant metal snake began its voyage into the shadows, the grinding and screeching gone in only a matter of seconds.

Turning around, Marcus pulled a white fox mask with red accents and a golden cross on its forehead from within his duffel bag, easily fitting it on his face. The red accents gleamed a red sheen as Marcus placed the mask on his face, the eye sockets crackling a scarlet electricity.


	10. Nihil

The air carried with it a cold, dreadful chill - its howls whispering through the yard of rusted trains. Creatures scuttering through the darkness joined the chorus of the darkness with their high squeaks and rapid footsteps.

The small ones were sent running back to the shadows as a piercing light flicked on amidst the black, it's good shining on the few bits of metal that hadn't been rusted to uselessness. The masked man carefully made his way over dips and trips in the terrain, almost stumbling to the ground when his foot got caught on a track.

"Ugh…" Marcus groaned, wiping a spot of gunk off of his already muddied shoes "Just what the hell is all this stuff?" He muttered, the faint scarlet light his mask radiated illuminating his shoe "Nevermind." The former Overwatch agent shook his head, aiming his torch back toward the train in front of him "Well, then...what do you have?" Reaching into his duffel bag, he procured a crowbar covered in dry blood and other kinds of dirt. The shattering of glass pierced the moment of silence like a gunshot, Marcus hauling himself through the broken window and into the abandoned train.

Almost immediately he was hit by the stench of rotting flesh. Had he not adjusted to this stench by now, the mask would probably not stay on his face for much longer. Nevertheless, he drove the crowbar into the floor, tearing up a metal plate and dropping it atop the nearby rotting corpse of...whatever that thing was. Sliding the mask up to the top of his head, Marcus gripped the torch between his teeth, tightened his gloves and reached into the floor, metal groaning and creaking as anything that caught the scavenger's eye was ripped out of position.

KATHUNK!

A loud, heavy impact made Marcus immediately bolt up, the light from the torch illuminating the door to the next carriage. The doorway between then had been obstructed by a large, twisted chunk of metal.

"The critters musta knocked something over…" He shrugged before returning to shoving his hand into the train's metallic organs. A few minutes passed of Marcus moving from spot to spot, plundering parts from the carriage...until heavy footsteps began to boom throughout the darkness. Slamming the flooring back into position, Marcus was immediately up on his feet, mask on his face and crowbar at the ready. The thunderous bangs only got closer and stronger, the carriage starting to rumble with every step the approaching thing took.

Dead silence.

The few seconds of quiet were interrupted by a screech of metal as the twisted chunk was pushed up from it's resting spot, sparks flying as it grinded against the train. Marcus made direct eye contact with a tall, fairly muscular man with skin a familiar colour of sickly green, the sclera of his eyes a glowing yellow with purple irises. His body cloaked in a grand coat of black, red and blue, an eruption of hair as white as snow coming from his head, so spiky you could cut yourself just by running a finger along the tip. The two stared at each other for a few moments, the silence returning for those brief moments. Once again it was broken by the heavy stomps of the green-skinned man as he began marching toward Marcus, the entire carriage now shaking with his booming footsteps. Slowly shuffling away from the encroaching evil, Marcus released a wild "YERAGH!" swinging the crowbar straight into the man's shoulder. He choked on his own breath when the man simply caught it without even batting an eye, proceeding to twist it in on itself. His cold eyes bore into Marcus as he tilted his head with a cocked eyebrow, curling his lip to reveal sharp fangs drenched in some kind of liquid. Before Marcus knew it, the man flung the crowbar across the carriage, the masked man's hands still clutching onto it - he slammed into the metallic wall with a loud WHAM before dropping to the floor, his head a blur. Groaning as he struggled to his feet, Marcus hurled the crowbar with all his might his damaged arm could muster. It simply bounced off the man with no grandeur, his marching only getting stronger. Gripping the handle of the door, Marcus scrambled to pull it open, the aged metal groaning and screeching as it was pulled from its resting spot. Forcing his way through the smallest opening of the door he could, Marcus yanked the door back into position - the two of them staring at each other through the glass as Marcus gasped for breath, reaching through his duffel bag to find something, anything.

The villainous, silent man broke eye contact from Marcus, focusing on something behind him. Marcus whirled around, being met with a dime a dozen Sanitized Octoling, Octoshot aimed at his head. Finally, Marcus' hand landed on what he had been looking for "You never learn." He scoffed, yanking out a pistol from within his bag, the gunshot lasting for a good few seconds after the bullet impacted right between the Octoling's eyes.

Yet they didn't fall.

Slowly lowering the gun, Marcus could only feel dread wash over him as the Octoling's blood erupting from the bullet hole, spewing out like a fountain and painting the walls a deep sea green. The Octoling's face burst open to reveal bony appendages laced in muscle and tendons, their arms splitting apart into skinny legs with dagger-like ends, the rest of their body twisting and contorting into an indescribable mass of writhing guts, skin and muscle. Looking over his shoulder, Marcus only saw the man giving him a blank stare, hand already prepared to rip the door wide open.

With a screech, the mutated Octoling lunged for Marcus. Primal instinct took over as Marcus spun around to blast the freak, which released a horrendous screech as it reeled back. Ducking under its insectoid-like body, the scarlet electricity that crackled around Marcus' mask only grew in intensity, sweat dripping down his forehead beneath the covering of the mask.

The sharp-fanged man ripped the door out of its position, flinging it down the carriage behind him where it clattered to the ground. As he stepped into the next carriage, the mutant, through its cries of agonizing pain, shifted to allow him to pass. With the scream of a dragon, Marcus unloaded every bullet in the clip into the man as he approached, yet they didn't even scratch his skin. The mutant bounded over him, opening a mouth filled to the brim with an ungodly horde of bloody, fresh teeth As Marcus was about to blast a bullet right into the thing's gullet, the gun only gave him an empty click.

"Unfortunate." The green skinned man's hand grabbed Marcus by the throat, yanking him off his feet before hurling him through a window. The train Marcus impacted shook violently as man met metal face first, a large crack making its way down the right side of the mask. As soon as he hit the ground, Marcus crawled under the train, fumbling around in the duffel bag to find some more ammo, his fingers finally grasping onto a clip which he hastily slammed into the gun. The floor reeked of oil and a mixture of blood and...whatever the other thing was, Marcus didn't want to think about it.

"Nngh…" The pursuer grumbled "Of course he scampers off." He punched the center of the mutated Octoling "You. That way."

The Octoling scuttled off into the shadows as Marcus' other pursuer began pacing around the different trains, muttering things to himself in words Marcus knew no meaning of. The distant rumble of a passing train spread through the black, a cold chill rushing through the air.

?

Nothingness. No sensation, no sound, nothing. She couldn't even feel her own face. The darkness surrounded and consumed everywhere, everything. And just as she began to accept the void, hundreds, thousands, millions, all cried out at once. Pleas for release, the loving embrace of death, children crying out for their mothers, it was all she knew in that moment. With no body and no mind to yell back or resist, a victim to the endless abyss. Yet the shivering was horrifying. It rattled down to whatever core she had left. And now she could only give in, her screams of fear and begs for death being lost among the madness. And there was no end.

**The Metro**

Marcus jolted as the freakish Octoling slammed its foot into the ground mere inches away from his face. It froze on the spot, the fleshy core filling with bulges until dozens of eyes burst from the skin, coated in blood that splattered to the ground. The legs snapped, crunched and twisted as the freak bent down, it's glowing orange and blood red eyes meeting the glowing scarlet eyes of Marcus' mask. The masked man let out a blood curdling scream as he scrambled away from the creature as fast as his exhausted body let him, bashing his head against the underside of the carriage in his raw panic. Pushing himself up to his feet once he crawled free, hand clenching his throbbing head as he stumbled and tripped into the black. The beast released a scream of bloody murder as it tore its way through the train, chunks of metal being sent flying through the air, crashing against the trains, glass falling to the floor as dozens of windows were smashed to fine shards.

Fumbling through his pockets, Marcus' hands eventually gripped onto his torch, hastily pulling it out from its hiding spot and flicking it on. The light revealed all kinds of graffiti scattered across the wall in front of him, warning messages scattered throughout the general vulgarity that painted the concrete. "Too bad none of it's useful." Were the thoughts of the prisoner to the infinite expanse of the Metro. His thoughts wandered to the past. Gently reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the same picture of his family he had been looking at for god knows how long now. Did they think he abandoned them? Would they even forgive him for vanishing...if he even got out, that is.

"Missing someone?"

The sudden voice made Marcus jolt, drawing his pistol once more as he spun to face the source - he was back already, the tall, muscular dark clothes man cold eyes penetrating the layer of bravery Marcus held, dirt shifting as Marcus slid his foot back.

A sharp toothed grin formed on the man's lips as he called through his maniacal smirk "I wouldn't get too upset if I were you," he drew up his hand, fingers drenched in a dripping and glowing cyan liquid "Soon this world will be pure and your loving little family reunited."

The icy words sent a fire through Marcus' soul, he assumed a much more aggressive stance, turning the gun on its side as he retorted with a solid "Is that a threat?"

"Nghehehe…" The man chuckled "Oh, no, it's a promise." He put his dry hand to his chest "I, Marcus, am Daal-Wah-Nid, the CEO of the Metro." He bowed to Marcus before swiftly returning upright "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Kch." Marcus spat "Feeling ain't mutual."

Daal-Wah-Nid sighed and shook his head "How unfortunate."

"Where's your pet?" Marcus thrust the gun forward, torch focused intently on Daal "Because I swear to god, if it's behind me…"

Daal simply shook his head and gestured to his right. Carefully shifting the torch, it revealed to Marcus the corpse of his former hunter, completely devoid of pigmentation, eyes shrivelled up like giant raisins and the same cyan liquid that was on Daal's hand seeping from a hole in the side of its head, the appendages that could be loosely described as it's legs twisted and snapped out of position "It was dying already. Pathetic little thing couldn't handle purity."

"Quit it with the cryptic crap!" Marcus raised his voice "What's this purity?"

"Human." Daal spoke in a casual tone as he pointed to Marcus "Tell me, did you ever hear of the Commander AI Project?"

Marcus stood upright, a blink of confusion fluttering over his eyes "How the hell do you know about that, that was classified information."

"Was it now?" Daal retorted "I thought only the higher ups of your little peace keeping organization were only supposed to know of the existence of the AI. And you…" He cackled, putting a hand to his chin "Weren't you just an Agent? Your armour fits the bill."

Marcus looked to the scrappy remains of his Overwatch gear, then back to Daal, simply glaring at him in return to the question.

"Haa...well, if there's one thing you didn't know, it was the goal of the project." Daal began, looking up to the ceiling "Should humanity be eradicated, the AI would move itself into an indestructible shell, waiting for the day it could bestow the knowledge and wisdom of humanity unto their successors."

Marcus tilted his head, cocking his eyebrow "And? What's this got to do with anything?"

"It failed." Daal put his head back down to face Marcus once more, keeping his hands behind his back "Unfortunately the successors of humanity proved utterly useless, even more obsessed with war than humans themselves, nothing but a species of stuck up brats." He moved his hand to his chest, smirking "I am that AI. I am Overwatch AI Commander Tartar."

"_So that wasn't a codename…"_ Marcus thought, stroking his chin "So, where'd your new name come from, then? Thought you weren't cool enough?"

Daal shrugged "It is ancient tongue. I'd tell you what it means, but I feel you would not understand its meaning." He looked back up to the ceiling "It's a shame what came after humanity are such...imperfect fools. This…'freshness' that covers their society is nothing but a facade to control the populace through a thinly veiled form of propaganda. Did they even consider their acts when wiping out all life in Octo Valley through weaponizing a woman?" He paced back and forth as he spoke, occasionally glancing to Marcus with each question, a rush of cold air filling the underground yard that made his snow white hair sway "And what of you? You fell right into their trap, enough so that you-"

His sentence never finished as a loud KABLAM penetrated the silence the air held, a hole appearing in Daal's forehead in that instant, Marcus' pistol drawn with smoke floating up from the muzzle. He stood there, staring up at the ceiling with his fangs bared as blood trickled down his face, arms outstretched. It was like he was frozen in time in his fall from the gunshot.

"_Never_ say that about my family." The human scowled, a burning fire in his eyes as he kept the gun trained on Daal.

Daal chuckled as he moved back to standing upright, his arms limp as he did, his face now drenched in his own blood "Ngheheheh, oh you foolish flesh bag. This body was made to be perfect by my own hand, a mere pea shooter like that won't be enough to kill me." His flesh twisted as it reformed anew over where the hole now once was "Now, we both know you don't belong in this time." He clenched his fists and tensed his body, a vicious green flame encompassing his body "Let me send you to where you belong!" With a thunderous scream he sent a tremendous shockwave of energy throughout the yard, sending the ancient trains flying into the air and flinging Marcus back, straight into a wall; the impact knocking dust and dirt from the wall and onto the floor, coating Marcus in a mixture of grey, black and brown powder. Coughing and spluttering as he got back to his feet, Marcus was met by a luminous cyan mist, his perspiration drenching his already battle damaged clothing as Daal-Wah-Nid's footsteps became audible once more, the intensity of the light only getting stronger with every step until the AI finally revealed itself among the mist, the right side of his body now glowing the same bright cyan that the blood of so many monsters and freaks the group had fought did, a perfect split of the two skins running down his body "When this body is totally purified it will become truly immortal, as will anything else that is affected by the purity. But for your little squid friends…" He chuckled as he suddenly lunged for Marcus, gripping his masked face in just one hand as he yanked him off the ground and into the air, his victim growling and struggling under his grip with his scarlet glow flashing to occasionally reveal his eye underneath the mask "I've run enough tests on specimens to confirm what happens to them when exposed to Purification. It isn't pretty~"

"Del...ta…" Marcus groaned, barely able to open his mouth from Daal's grip on his face "Where...is she…!?"

"The girl?" Daal questioned, tilting his head "Oh yes, her, she was a nice girl in our conversations over the phone. Unfortunately I don't know where she is." His look of thought turned to pure malice as he glared into Marcus' eye "But I think Johnny caught her by now."

"RRGGH!" Marcus snarled, kicking Daal's cheek. The mad tyrant dropped him as he went to clutch his face, the smaller of the two immediately taking off past him and down past the remnants of the smashed up trains, letting out a gasp of relief as he saw a beam of light coming from a wall. Smashing through the barely opened door, Marcus didn't even think to look back as he dashed up the stairs, Daal's mad screams mere feet behind him. Erupting out onto the platform, Marcus could already hear the roar of the train coming down the tunnel, its lights flooding the darkness.

Daal burst onto the scene, his standard smirk plastered on his face "Nowhere to run, boy."

Marcus glanced to the approaching train, reaching into his bag once more and pulling out a flare "Thank god for contingency plans, huh?" He ripped the cap of the flare off, yanking the chord and the intense red light flooded the station, the resulting smoke being flushed down the tunnel as the train sped through only seconds later. Flipping his middle finger up at Daal, Marcus leapt off the platform, grabbing onto the back of the train at the last possible second and vanishing down into shadows of the tunnel with the vehicle, leaving behind a thick trail of red smoke in his wake. Dozens of small blue and purple tentacles appeared from the windows of the train, grabbing onto Marcus and slamming him into the back of the train, he wasted no time in pulling the back door open and bounding in as he dropped the flare and slammed the door shut behind him, falling to the floor with heavy gasps, C.Q Cumber dropping from the ceiling and landing with a wet splat next to him.

"You alright, bucko? Who even was that?" The conductor questioned as Marcus gasped for breath, slowly pushing himself up.

"Cumber, we're in deep shit now." Dusting himself off as he dropped the bag and removing his mask, Marcus wiped a spot of blood from his cheek "That guy, he's the head of all this. He made the sanitization and - he's got something worse coming."

Cumber gestured for Marcus to sit down as he hopped up to the seats, his human companion swiftly and tiredly doing so "What are we dealing with?"

"He calls it Purification - he didn't give any specifics." Marcus shook his head "And...he also knows that what it does to Inklings isn't pretty, whatever that is. And he hates them. He's an AI from my age, designed to give the 'successors of humanity' the knowledge they had...whatever that is. But I guess this perfectionist wasn't satisfied and now - now he wants to wipe the slate clean and start anew. That - that's what I gathered at least." He looked to Cumber "Any word from the sisters?"

"No. But we'll need to let them know ASAP if this is true." Cumber released a sigh "Come on, you need to lie down."

**2 hours later…**

"Aargh…" Marcus groaned as he forced his way out of the rubble of the tunnel, its twisted fragments practically fused with what remained of the train, the blood of numerous passengers coating the chunks of reinforced concrete and metal "Cumber!?" Marcus called out "Cumber, you alright!?" As his eyes scoured the wreck for any signs of the conductor, his gaze met a faint golden glint only a few feet away from him. His hands shaking as he wrenched the rubble off, he was met with Cumber's hat, the golden lining shattered and denim torn asunder, the owner of the headwear lying in a splattered mess of his own blood, internal organs and bright flesh, the few chunks of him that remained wheezing with each breath he could muster. Slowly turning himself to look up at Marcus, he barely got out a chuckle before going back to wheezing "Agh...hey, you alright?" Marcus nodded, reaching into a compartment in his armour for a second before he froze when Cumber's single "Don't." sounded, slowly looking back to his friend "I'm too far gone, boyo. You think I could survive having half my damn body blown off?"

"I…" Marcus sighed, covering his eyes with his hand "I'm sorry."

"No." Cumber shook his head "Don't be, kid. Part of the journey is-" He was interrupted by violent hacking and coughing before painfully resuming "the end...and all…" He lay back, part of his facial region seeming to contort into a smile "You're good kids, all of you." He held his hat up to Marcus "I believe in you."

As Marcus gently took the hat from Cumber's grasp, the sea cucumber's tentacle shrivelled up and returned to his body, the pool of blood under him slowly growing in size "Go on. Kick that little shit's ass." With one last wheeze, his body went from its vibrant blue and purple to a shrivelled up grey and black in seconds. Marcus clenched his fist before firmly placing Cumber's hat on his head and grabbed his mask once more. The cracked area fell from the rest of the mask, shattering on the floor beside Cumber. Wiping his eyes and firmly placing the mask on his face, Marcus' single revealed bloodshot eye glared down the tunnel as Deadf1sh revealed herself once more, chuckling to herself as a red glow emanated from within her. The tunnel shook once more as numerous heavy pounds and bangs sounded from the ceiling before a section of it smashed wide open, Rem and Ix dropping through and landing in front of Marcus, already in a battle stance.

"We got here as fast as we could." Ix glanced to Marcus, nodding.

Rem blinked, tilting her head "Deadf1sh...fancy seeing you here." She smirked "Was wondering where you pissed off to!"

"A fan?" Deadf1sh grinned "Well, you know what they say, ginger. Never meet your heroes!" Her legs braced for a lunge, only for a slash of lightning to run through her, the Octoling standing totally frozen on the spot for a moment before the glowing blood of the sanitized began trickling down from the middle of her body before she fell to the floor with a thud - at least, the two parts of herself that she now was, Jack standing behind where the DJ once stood with his sword coated in her blood.

"Hey." He nodded to them "Looks like that blast must've taken out the device she was using to keep me trapped." He reached into the pocket of Deadf1sh's jacket, pulling out a small remote "Bingo." It crackled as the cyborg crushed it in his hand "Now, then…" His sword vanished into the particles around his wrist as he suddenly dug his hand into the split remains of Deadf1sh's internal organs, the guts squelching and churning as Jack dug through her insides before finally clasping his metallic hand around something small and hard, tearing it out with enough force to coat himself in Deadf1sh's blood in the process, holding up a glowing red stone "BOOM!"

"That's one of the Gems! How did you-!?" Rem gasped, her jaw dropping.

Jack chuckled as he tossed the gem about, catching it with ease "Just a hunch, sweetie. That and I had a bone to pick with her anyway."

Ix stood upright and spun around, eyebrow raised "Hang on...where's Cumber?"

Marcus sighed and adjusted the hat he wore "...He didn't make it."

Silence fell on the group as they stared at the rubble, Rem putting her hands together as she stared down solemnly, taking a deep breath "Right." She nodded "Right…"

"He say anything?" Ix asked as she began to climb over the rubble towards a faint blue light, pulling out the Soul Gem from the carnage.

Marcus sighed "He believes in us." Was all he replied with, hands in his pockets.

"Hmm…" Ix nodded as she carefully made her way back "Oh...uh...about Delta."

"What about her?" Marcus asked, turning his head to Ix "Is she alright?"

Rem shook her head as she nervously adjusted her vest's collar and tightened her belt "We lost her."

"Lost her?" Jack moved closer to his daughter "What do you mean?"

Ix sighed "This giant wyvern...thing attacked her and we barely found her in time to save her." She crossed her arms and grit her teeth, muttering frustrations at herself "We managed to kill it but just as we did the floor under Delta gave way - we have no idea if she landed anywhere safe or…"

"If she's safe she'll find her way to us." Marcus said as firmly as he could "She's a smart kid."

Rem and Ix slowly nodded with a unified "Right."

"There's a station not too far down there." Jack pointed behind him, a faint light visible further down the tunnel "Go on, it's safer in there than it is down here." He walked past the rest of the group, standing at the edge of the rubble "I'll be right with you."

Marcus nodded and began to make his way down the tunnel, his breaths shaking and legs weak "Come on, girls."

As the other three walked off, Jack squatted down next to Cumber's resting place, removing another piece of rubble to reveal the man's dry body, the cyborg staring at it in silence before removing some of the particles that hovered around his wrists and placing them next to Cumber, where they immediately formed into a small, glowing blue and black flower. Swiftly moving back into an upright position, Jack saluted the fallen conductor before turning and running off to the light.

Marcus dropped to the solid floor of the platform after Rem pulled him up, exhausted and limp, he stared up at the ceiling with only his heavy breaths droned out by the loud whirs of the fans in the ceiling.

Rem's ears suddenly flicked under her hair, the woman hastily assuming her standard battle stance "Heads up, luvs. We got company. Seems like the blast attracted a lot of folk."

Just as Jack jumped up to the platform, a familiar black mass seeped its way from the grates and onto the floor, bubbling and churning as it formed itself into an oh so familiar shape, four crimson eyes appearing on his face as Johnny's menacing chuckle filled the room. His jaw unhinged as a purple glow encompassed him...and a shriek of a girl filled the air, a cold chill filling the entire body of every member of the group.

"No…" Ix muttered, eyes going wide.

A flaming aura immediately consumed Rem, who released a primal scream as she charged forward towards the living evil.

* * *

**...What? Did you honestly think I would stop? That's the thing with me, I'm _very_ stubborn.**


	11. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

-IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING OCTO INSURGENCY AND JOHNNY-

This morning I woke up to a message from the creator of the Inkblot Disease, they found out about my affiliation with a friend who has had a rocky past and, as such, has retracted my right to use the Inkblot Disease in Insurgency.

As such, Johnny has been decommissioned and Insurgency placed on hold until I can figure out where to go from here. Whilst I do have a story-based reason in place for Johnny being removed already, there are things I need to sort out regarding Johnny and Delta.

This was stuff out of my control at the end of the day and I wish things were different. Johnny was going to die in the next chapter anyway, but I won't lie to you – this stings like hell.

Thank you for your time.


	12. Omnis finis De Rerum

**NOTE: After the controversy with Johnny, I was able to find a workaround and turned him into a mass of Dark Matter from the Kirby series. It shouldn't change much but did allow me a bit of leeway with the fight. Anywho, enjoy!**

"REM, NO!" Ix screamed as her sister's roar echoed through the entirety of the Metro, the amazon's body releasing intense amounts of heat before she was even halfway to Johnny, embers flying through the air from seemingly nowhere.

Johnny formed a malicious smirk in his mouth of darkness, his chest splitting open down the middle to reveal a second mouth lined with countless more sharp teeth, a large eye of crimson glaring at the oncoming inferno through the teeth.

The party flinched as Rem made contact with Johnny, bracing for the horrid screams that were about to come.

Yet the air remained scorching and no screams filled the room. Slowly looking back to Johnny, Ix's jaw dropped once she saw the remnants of the collision. Johnny stood there, mouth agape, with an enormous hole torn right in his chest, what once was the eye in his middle now a mess of red liquid behind him with Rem, hair quite literally blazing in an inferno, standing like she had just punched right through the dark mass, the air wavering around her. Her head twitched and shook as she glared over her shoulder, both her iris and pupil reduced to dots in her eyes with her fangs gnashing together to the point sparks flew from the gaps between her teeth from the scorching heat she was radiating.

"No way..." Ix gasped as the tall, menacing figures stared over their shoulders at each other, deafening silence filling the air save for the howls of air that the heat brought through. Johnny slowly reformed his mass, the splattered mess of shade acting as if it was being rewound in a film. Complete once more, Johnny released and ear splitting roar at Rem, the orange titan responding with an almighty, bellowing primal roar of her own, the might of the two shaking the very ground on which they stood. Purple cracks appeared over Johnny as he shrieked skyward, a storm of purple energy erupting forth from within, the raw energy swirling amidst the orange, heated air.

"Ngh, this is nuts..." Marcus scowled "They haven't even started and they're already on the verge of killing us."

Jack looked to his comrade, then to both of his daughters before a stern glare formed in his eyes, metallic body shimmering in the clashes of light sources "Who said there was a they?" He reached over his head and pulled his sword free from its sheath, lightning crackling over his being "No matter how deep we're in, we're in this together." He looked to Marcus and Ix "This is our fight, too. And we owe it to everyone in this hellhole to kill him."

Ix walked up to her father's side, smirking "You think I'd miss this? Come on, let's party!" She turned to a blue blur as she and Rem charged at the mass of red and black, a tremendous shockwave ripping through the station as Johnny simply held his palms out, the sisters slamming into them, surrounded by roaring infernos of their colour, Johnny's different pair of eyes glared at either one before taking to the ceiling with the sisters following not a second later.

On the ground, Jack looked to Marcus as he too stood by his side "Yeah, you and me, way out of our league." The former agent reached up and readjusted the cracked mask, which weakly crackled with its scarlet energy "Doesn't mean it damn well ain't worth a try."

A second pair of arms spewing forth from Johnny's back, the living mass blocked and parried every hit the sisters sent his way, purple flame radiating around his body as the combatants got faster and faster before slugging Ix in the cheek and sending her careening to the surface, his other fist crashing into Rem's gut, the saliva and blood she subsequently threw up vanishing into him in seconds. Grabbing the woman by the leg, he yanked her into the air before smashing her back into the ceiling with all his might face first, her agonizing screams echoing throughout the station and into the shadows of the tunnels.

"HEY!" Jack screamed as a blast of electricity zapped Johnny's arm, forcing the creature to release his captive and glare at the cyborg. Rem quickly corrected herself as she fell, hitting the ground with a solid thud next to Ix. Johnny hissed as he spread himself out over the ceiling, the party of four continuing to glare up at him, as light slowly faded from the station, being replaced with a low, ominous purple glow accented with the faint orange of the embers and the inferno that was Rem's hair. Lowering a form of his usual body to the floor, tendrils connecting him to the bubbling mass on the ceiling, dozens more eyes opened up along Johnny's body, all of them staring straight into the souls of his opposition, raw energy bubbling out from the blackened ceiling, the strange liquid that came from the burst bubbles sizzling into a dark steam as it made contact with the ground, the staredown seeming to last an eternity, time frozen around them.

Johnny finally made the first movement, screeching as he charged toward Marcus, countless tendrils bursting forth from his back, coated in the same purple liquid. Before any of them could react, Marcus was blasted across the station and into the cold concrete wall, a sickening CRACK sounding as he hit it arm first before slumping down onto the tracks, limp.

"BASTARD!" Jack screamed, his sword cutting right through one of Johnny's tendrils, the beast screeching in pain as its lost limb fell to the floor, spasming and writhing at Jack's feet _"That...worked?"_ Jack thought, his moment of distraction immediately being exploited by the being of darkness as he uppercutted him with enough force to shatter some of the metal plating below his chin, the cyborg backflipping through the air from the tremendous impact before hitting the ground with a loud WHAM, coughing and spluttering as he pushed himself up "What the hell…?"

Rem and Ix nodded at each other, grabbing each other's hand, Rem's skin hot to the touch. The duo dashed toward Johnny, wreathed in flame as they threw themselves into him, a black liquid spewing from Johnny's mouth with a wail of pain as it did, splattering as it did. Grabbing him by the neck, the sisters moved as one as they threw him over their shoulders and into the stone floor, a crater forming from the sheer power of the impact.

Rem's furious glare met Johnny's, who immediately dematerialized and wrapped himself around the orange-tentacled amazon, Rem wildly thrashing about as the two of them wrenched her limbs back and forth, Rem arching her back to a degree that seemed impossible as she ran Johnny across the floor, leaving a trail of sludge behind them.

"GET OFFA HER YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Ix screamed as she came hurtling towards the thrashing fighters, only for a bolt of lightning to boom past her, smoke filling the air as Ix came grinding to a halt, Jack sprinting past her. Flipping into the air, his sword gained a bright blue glow as it came down on Rem and Johnny, cutting clean through the tendrils that the darkness had wrapped around his daughter, sending the two of them flying off in opposite directions. With a hateful scowl, Johnny's severed parts immediately flew back towards him, purple cracks of lightning sparking as they slammed back into their places.

Thunderous booms echoed throughout the station as Marcus unloaded bullet after bullet into Johnny's eyes, splashes of purple energy rupturing forth from the impacts. Johnny screeched out before dashing towards Marcus at incomparable speeds, a tendril bursting forth from his back as he flipped over the man, his body liquidizing into an amorphous mass as it hurled himself and Marcus into the air, the form of a twisted Tyrannosaurus erupting forth from the inky black, more tendrils erupting from the beast's back and pinning Marcus to his side, Johnny's roar shook the very ground upon which they stood, Rem responding with a furious, primal bellow of her own. Ix blasted forward in a blur of speed, swiping out Johnny's foot from under him, the beast stumbling before more tendrils came from his foot, the ground trembling as he smashed his foot back into the floor. Smoke flew into the air as Ix drifted along the wall and rammed herself into the back of Johnny's skull. The Rex's body bent and contorted as its head vanished into itself, almost immediately reappearing behind Ix and clamping its jaws down on her, the blue haired speedster's screams of agonizing pain filling the air as Johnny repeatedly smashed her into the nearest solid surfaces he could find before tossing her up into the air, maw open wide as she came hurtling back down.

Ix consumed herself in a sparkling aura as gravity took hold of her "You want a taste, cunt!? COME AND-" Her taunt was interrupted as her ginger sister's foot crashed into her cheek, an ear-splitting crack sounding as yet another sonic boom tore through the station, shredding up the floors and walls. Ix could only watch in horror from her spot in the crater on the wall as Rem was consumed by the darkness, all the while keeping a solid, yet confident smile on her face, a single nod reaching Ix before she vanished.

Dropping to the floor, the remainder of the fighters watched in horror as a scorching flame erupting from Johnny's mouth, his body growing spikes all over with a faint blue aura surrounding him as the flame died out.

"She still had the Space Gem..." Jack muttered, his tightened fist crackling with electricity "Rem...what the fuck have you done!?"

Marcus' continued to writhe and struggle in Johnny's grip, his right arm finally bursting free from within the constraints. Hand shaking, one more CRACK filled the air as a bullet hit Johnny right in the pupil, the beast screeching in agony, its grip on Marcus failing and the man fell to the floor, dust kicking up from the impact.

Still standing on the rails, Ix only found herself able to watch her father barely fend off the beast's onslaught, flames lashing at the cyborg, electricity crackling along the floor as Jack's nanoparticles were incinerated one by one, the shield slowly being burned down to nothing.

A blinding light then appeared from within the tunnel to Ix's left, Ix briefly turning to face it before looking back to Johnny's clash with her father.

"Marcus!" Jack yelled over to the immobile agent "Get up already! Just keep going for the- ARAAAAGH!" He roared as his shield finally gave out, the flames consuming his body "Maria...I'm sorry." He groaned, weaker parts of his body blowing off into the fire already.

The onslaught came to an unexpected halt with an incredible WHAM echoing off the ravaged walls, Johnny's body sent hurtling across the station. Slowly opening his eyes, his body flipping open numerous vents, out of which came tremendous amounts of both steam and smoke, Jack's eyes went wide when he lay them upon Ix, her fingers dug into the steel walls of a train carriage, the back of which had been dented to an incredible degree from the sheer force of the impact. With nary a care for the passengers, Ix hurled the carriage into a wall, stomping towards Johnny as he right himself upwards, body shrinking down to his standard humanoid form, four eyes creeping open on his face, the fighters glaring into each other's souls, sweat dripping down Ix's body, her shirt clung to her back from the perspiration, shoulders rising and falling with her heavy, laboured breaths. Her aura blazed to life as she charged at Johnny, their hands gripping onto each other as they rammed their entire weight into the other. Lightning and fire blasting around the station as the two of them ramped their latent power higher and higher, Johnny's second pair of arms went sliding down his body, the secondary pair of hands grabbing Ix's legs, swinging her off her feet in one clean motion. In the mere seconds the blue haired fighter was in the air, Johnny unleashed a cascading barrage of blue and purple projectiles into her, one final blast sending her across the station and into the same wall once more, her body cloaked in a dark smoke.

Marcus groaned as he slowly pried his eyes open, his body jolting as he saw Johnny's many eyes staring down at him. His mind shrieked at him to move, but he just remained there, stuck under the eldritch horror's gaze. The same ominous purple glow appeared over Johnny's body once more, not unlike light seeping through cracks – his mouth slowly opened with a slowly rising screech...roar...an indescribable noise filling the air. Jack lunged for Johnny, only to be blasted back by a pulse of purple power.

"_Cal...Smokes...I'm sorry."_ Marcus slowly closed his eyes once more, fate now inches from his body.

Just as his warped, twisted tongue was close to touching Marcus' skin, however, Johnny froze, simply staring at Marcus' arm instead, his trio of opponents staring in confusion at the pause. As soon as silence filled the air, it was just as quickly pierced with an unholy screech like none other heard on Earth, Johnny clutching his face as he fell backward, wildly thrashing himself about as his body bulged, twisted in on itself and began to bubble all over. After 2 minutes straight of his pained roaring, another scream could be heard under Johnny's, a pale hand bursting out of his chest. Clawing at the blackened mass, the hand began to wrench itself free from its prison, part of a leather jacket's sleeve slowly bringing itself out of Johnny's insides, the second scream increasing in volume and strength as the arm pulled itself free agonizingly slowly, bit by bit revealing more of itself to the outside world. The hand reached up the Johnny's arm, sliding up along his chest as it moved, gripping onto him with enough strength to turn its knuckles red in an instant. A strong tug yanked more of the arm's owner free, including their face.

Green hair of an Octoling, purple eyes and that black leather jacket...Delta's eyes were bloodshot as she further struggled to free herself from her hellish prison, tears streaming down her cheeks as her body was wracked with torment, the screaming reaching a climax as she finally burst forth from within Johnny, stringy tendrils still grasping onto her back, arms and legs. Her full form now revealed, the group could see the entire right sleeve of Delta's jacket was missing, along with her collar reaching up past her neck. Her hand quivering as it reached for the rifle on her back, Delta snatched it out of the grip of Johnny's tendrils, letting herself go airborne, rifle aimed into the hole she had left from bursting out of Johnny, another bright red eye revealed in the abyss. The tremendous gunshot shattered glass as Johnny's tendrils snapped and pinged off of Delta, the teen sliding across the ground and into Marcus' exhausted body. With an exhausted moan, Marcus slowly pushed himself up, looking to Delta "Kid...how did you…?"

Delta silently reached into a pocket on her jacket, pulling out the glimmering cyan glow of the Space Gem, leaving Marcus agape at the sight "...What are you?"

As Delta opened her mouth to speak, she began violently hacking and coughing, eventually puking up a mass of Johnny, a single eye opening in the darkness before scurrying off back to its owner, who was laying limp in a puddle of his own mass. Delta's legs shook as she got up on her own two feet, rifle propped up as support "Rem...she's still in there."

A scorching heat filled the room as a blazing light blue flame erupting from Ix at the mention of her sister, her hair now standing on end with a glimmering light blue glow "Just tell me what we need to do."

Jack ripped off his chest plating as he got back up on the other end of the station, revealing a trigger where his heart should be. With a simple flick, the heavier parts of his body went flying off, his whole body consumed by white lightning "I don't remember the last time I had to overclock myself..." He grunted as his sword reformed in his hand "But goddamnit, let's get this son of a bitch."

Johnny reformed his body in an instant, his blood red eyes turning the same ominous purple as his flaming aura, his many eyes staring down his opponents.

Delta raised a finger to Johnny, scowling at her former captor, then glancing to Ix "Beat the ever loving shit out of him."

Ix blasted across the station and straight into Johnny, a shockwave of their energies ripping the floor to shreds on collision, the very foundation crumbling around them. Ix slung Johnny over her shoulder, her follow up punch only hitting the floor as Johnny swiftly rebuilt himself behind her, only for his attack to be interrupted by a bullet splattering his head to pieces, the very first thing he saw upon forming himself a new head being Jack slicing right through him, digging his clawed fingers into his face, colour itself draining from the station as Johnny screeched out from the electricity crackling through him, Marcus sprinting up from behind, leaping over Johnny and unloading bullet after bullet into the eyes on Johnny's chest before Jack tossed the being into a wall, his attempt to spring back into the fight interrupted by Ix appearing in front of him, sliding along the floor as she caught his attack, screaming out the most visceral "**FUCK YOU!**" she could as she suplexed Johnny with a godly impact, the floor of the station completely giving out, the combatants falling through the mist that filled the metro, surrounded by any loose junk that occupied the station, Johnny and Ix brawling the whole way down until they crashed into another part of the metro, the lights flickering on to reveal what looked like an old, decrepit laboratory, the large glass vats still filled with glowing, acid-looking liquids.

Johnny didn't waste a moment in immediately attacking Delta, wrenching her rifle out of her grip and slamming a fist into her face, a tendril bursting out of his back that swatted Marcus away as he attempted to charge for Johnny once more, his body being flung into a collection of ice-coated canisters, a ghostly chill creeping into the room as one of them ruptured.

Jack's blade was caught by Johnny forming his arm into a blade of his own, the two of them glaring right into each other's hate-filled eyes, Johnny shooting a bolt of purple lightning into Jack's chest, forcing the cyborg to his knees, the vents on his body reopening to release a mass of purple smoke, Jack gasping for breath as he glared up at Johnny, the beast simply cackling until a familiar blue glow filled his vision.

"FORGET SOMEBODY, YOU PRICK!?" Ix screamed, the sound of glass shattering echoing through the lab as the woman smashed a vat of acid into Johnny, the monster screeching out as the acid covered its body, a hissing noise radiating off of his skin as the acid dug into his abyssal body.

"His...weakness is _acid?"_ Marcus coughed as he stood up once again "How?"

"That isn't just acid." An unseen voice spoke, the entire party flinching, yet swiftly noticed the speaker on a table nearby "It's something I made in case he ever gets too out of hand."

"...And who are you?" Jack questioned as his vents closed up, lightning returning over his body.

The voice chuckled "Kill him and you'll find out."

The howl of a wolf echoed throughout the lab and into the fog as Johnny reformed himself into a large, spiked beast of a wolf, purple eyes glaring down at his foes. The shockwave from Ix's takeoff sent the radio on the table smashing to the floor, the sound of croaky laughter fading out from the sparking remains.

Johnny's enormous paw smashed Ix into the floor, his body illuminating purple as he unleashed a storm of purple thunderbolts into the squid, Ix gritting her teeth as she glared back up at the beast, an undying flame in her eyes as her own bolts of lightning slowly began pushing Johnny back, the eldritch beast's glare shifting slightly as the clash sent wild bolts out around the lab, the other three barely dodging the raw power being flung around them.

Ix roared out a throat-shredding scream as her energy overwhelmed the beast that had her pinned, rising into a powerful uppercut faster than even the powered up darkness could comprehend, grabbing him by the horns, fangs grinding together as she spun him around before hurling him at Jack, the cyborg not saying a word as he brought his sword up, slicing clean through the monster hurtling towards him. But in the brief moments that the split pieces of Johnny flew over him, he could have sworn he saw a familiar green eye staring back at him.

Before he even hit the ground, Johnny reformed back into his beastly form, his roar making the ground tremble under his might.

"Shut it." Was the only thing Delta said before blasting Johnny straight in the gullet with a bullet from her rifle, the beast reeling back from the power of the impact.

Marcus looked down to the Octoling as she reloaded her weapon, his eyebrow and lip raised "Kid, the hell happened to you? You were never so..." He exhaled as he looked around at the battlefield, Jack and Ix watching Johnny recover from the shot "Aggressive. Hell, how did you even get out of him!?"

Delta froze for a moment before finishing the reload "Marcus..." She looked up at him, her whole face quivering "I'm scared out of my mind right now...and I don't know how I got out! Th-that's not important now! W-we need to save Rem..."

Marcus sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a single magazine "Shit..." He grumbled as he slammed the magazine into his pistol "7 shots." Training the pistol on Johnny, a smirk formed on his lips "More than enough to kill this soul-snatching bastard."

One more tremendous bellow shook the lab, the vats giving way under the power of the vibrations, bursting open, their contents spilling out onto the floor in a vibrant mess of orange, green and purple.

Marcus wasted no time in immediately shooting out Johnny's eyes, Ix rushing past him to deliver a blow that shook the very foundations of the metro, the acid sizzling as parts of Johnny were clobbered off him and into the mess. Johnny screeched at Ix in retaliation, clamping his fangs down on her arm, blood spurting out from the punctures as the blue warrior was violently tossed about until she smashed her foot into Johnny's newly formed eye, spinning herself up onto his back and yanking the mass that made up his horns clean off, tossing them into the pool of acid where they released...screams, more than hisses. Johnny's whole chest opened up to reveal a swirling vortex of purple and red, Jack's feral scream filling the room as he charged towards it, an enormous bolt of lightning bursting out of his chest and into the vortex. Johnny splattered into thousands of pieces as the vortex exploded, the black mass that made him scattered off to reveal a still-formed Rem, her eyes opening as soon as the darkness flew off her, kicking the now humanoid Johnny towards Jack, her father slicing Johnny's arms clean off, Marcus took to the air, unloading every single bullet he had left into Johnny's side, the monster's course violently changing direction into Delta's line of fire, the bullet cutting Johnny clean in half and once again changing his course, directly towards a sparking Ix, her power-fuelled fist ramming into Johnny with the force of a thousand nukes, the top of the lab being blown clean off and then some, the ocean above the metro parting as an enormous pillar of blue energy shot off into deep space, Johnny's mouth opening wider than ever before as the sunlight flooded the chamber, his screams muffled before it could even begin as he impact into the acid, screams that weren't his own echoing off into the nothing as Johnny thrashed about in the acid, his hand desperately reaching skyward before being consumed by the mess, silence returning unto the metro.

As the airborne fighters landed, Ix's hair returned to normal as she dashed towards Rem, the sisters embracing in each other's arms "It's OK, Ix." Rem's soothing voice sent a wash of relief over Ix "It's OK."

Carefully stepping over the acid, Delta and Marcus made their way over to the Altezios, Jack turning the lever in his chest back down as his vents reopened to let out tremendous amounts of steam, the cyborg chuckling "Let's just hope we don't get ambushed after that. I'll be out for-"

He was interrupted by millions of screams filling the darkness as a twisting tornado of blue shot up into the sky, the group barely able to make out the forms of Inklings, Octolings, all kinds of life in the tornado as they went rocketing upward, the clouds above parting to reveal the orange sun shining down through the hole.

"...We did it." Ix wiped a tear from his cheek "We actually got him."

Marcus chuckled, crossing his arms as he looked up "Yeah." He turned his head to Ix "I guess we did."

Delta dropped her rifle by her side, staggering forward as she continued to stare up at the sun, eyes fixated on its glowing beauty "It's beautiful..."

"Not bad, eh?" Marcus asked the young Octoling "Can't remember the last time I saw the sky."

Jack groaned as he cracked his neck, sparks flying from his joints "So...elephant in the room. Delta, any idea how you got out?"

Rem let out a playful giggle "I can help you with that!" She ruffled Delta's hair, the titanic mother's ever playful grin forming on her lips "In that brief moment he got in my mouth all those months ago, I knew he was trying to get my stuff, y'know? So when he was about to get Ix, that's why I jumped in the way and-"

"You gambled in a fight like this?" Ix interrupted her "The fuck am I gonna do with you..."

"Well it paid off, didn't it!?" Rem protested, arms flung by her sides "Anyway, I think that's why he didn't really dissolve me, to get the most out of my power. And after he switched back to big buff dude form, I was able to overpower his mind for a moment and expel Delta!" She scratched the back of her head as she gave a nervous chuckle "I can't explain the new look, though. So, who wants to go find the big-"

Clapping suddenly came from the hole above them, the whole group assuming a battle stance, staring up at a newly formed entrance in the opening to the world above. Marcus' mouth went agape as the light illuminated the source.

Daal-Wah-Nid stood above them on a metal beam, staring down at the group "Well done, well done." He smirked "Bravo! You did what 100 years never could!"

"**You.**" Marcus snarled, dropping his gun by his side "What do you want?"

Daal-Wah-Nid put a hand to his chin as his ominous chuckle echoed down onto them "Nothing much. Just for you to see...this." As he snapped his fingers, a shadow filled the room, the sky being blotted out by an enormous, shining green statue flying over the exit to the world, armed to the teeth with armour, dozens of weapons and its face masked in a giant cannon "Marcus, was it? Remember the purity I told you about? I finished it off faster than expected."

"No!" Marcus ran forward, shoving past Rem and Ix "You're bluffing!"

Daal-Wah-Nid burst out laughing, walking off the beam...and onto thin air, continuing to stare down at the group "If I was bluffing I would be telling you I already fired it. I just wanted you to know your last moments will be spent trapped down her whilst your families are the first to go. That's all~"

The air began to warm as Rem's blood boiled from those words, embers rising out from the floor.

Daal smirked at Rem, then looked back to Marcus "Mysteeri, was it? I wasn't able to run any experiments on her kind of DNA, I wonder what this will do to her~"

"YOU BASTARD!" Marcus shrieked "YOU LEAVE HER-"

Marcus was sent flying back by a pulse of lavender energy from Daal "Uncouth." He frowned "Why won't you understand this is for the betterment of life itself? This is for..." His frown formed back into a smile "Purity."

And with that, he vanished, leaving the group to stare up at the empty hole to the sky.

The metal around Rem began to melt, Jack looking over to his daughter as her breaths became heavy, turning to grunts, barely holding back feral roars, her hair looking like it had ignited "Rem...deep breathing. We'll-"

"**FUCK THE DEEP BREATHING!" **Rem screamed, a vicious explosion bursting out from her. The blast went shooting through the vents and tunnels of the metro, incinerating anything that met its path, the now former prison to hellish abominations and tortured souls reduced to a molten pile of scrap in seconds, steam rising out into the atmosphere as the fire burst out from the hole to the sky, Daal looking over his shoulder from atop the statue. In a burst of flames, Rem and the rest of the group appeared across the statue's head, the woman's eyes boring into Daal.

"Hmhm, my my, that was fast." Daal went to clap once more, only for Rem to appear in front of him an instant, grabbing his hand in a tight grip, only to be sent flying backwards and into the decrepit crown of the statue, her flaming aura and heat dissipating instantly.

Not staying down for long, Rem immediately erupted out of the impact zone, Ix joining her without a second of hesitation.

"Come, then!" Daal yelled, raising his arms outward "Show me the power of the Inkling's greatest fighters!"

Their screams reaching the beaches of Ooinkhu, Rem and Ix wreathed themselves in flame, charging for Daal, who swiftly ignited his own lavender aura, blocking the respective kick and punch from the sisters, gripping their limbs and smashing them into the floor, their attempted counter blasts simply bouncing off Daal's skin. Tossing the fighters aside, Daal made a mad dash towards the rest of the group, Jack standing his ground as the villain approached, his sword being grabbed mid swing and snapped clean in two before both parts were jammed into his stomach, Daal turning to Delta and Marcus, grabbing the Octoling's rifle and simply slapping her across the face with it, the impact sending the girl straight into the floor, before turning it on Marcus, snarling as the rifle simply clicked as he pulled the trigger, slamming it into Delta's back as he marched towards the human, the single punch he threw sending Marcus flying across the statue, the Overwatch agent flipping back onto his feet with a scowl on his face. As Daal came running at him again, he dug into his pocket before flinging two yellow earrings at Rem and Ix, which clattered to the ground beside them.

"Over here!" Daal yelled, another punch crashing into the side of Marcus' face, a trail of blood following him as he flew, painting the floor in crimson. Coughing and spluttering, his vision blurred, Marcus glared up at Daal, the bio-android's fists coated in red blood "A valiant effort." He raised his palm slightly, surrounded by a glowing ring of lavender energy "But-"

He was cut short by a tap on the shoulder "Who dares-"

A thunderous boom echoed over the ocean as a fist slammed into Daal's cheek, sending the villain reeling. Clutching his face, he glared over at his attacker "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?"

Opposing Daal stood a tall, muscular man in a black leather vest, hair that looked like an inferno of orange and blue, tattered black jeans and white boots. His green eyes shimmered in the light as he raised a finger to Daal.

"You've gone too far. Now you've gotta deal with Remix."


	13. Itaque non refert

Remix's single step towards his opponent sent a clap of thunder through the skies, tearing the golden clouds above apart and revealing the red sky through them, electricity crackling over the fusion's body as he simply walked closer to the tyrant that stood at the helm of the war machine, nought but a smirk on his face the whole way.

"This pressure..." Delta muttered, her eyes remaining fixated on Remix the whole way, Jack and Marcus watching his approach in utter silence. Remix stopped mere inches away from Daal, chest pushed forward and eyebrow cocked, his emerald green meeting the glimmering purple of Daal, the metal ground groaning as light auras ignited around them.

"So, pretty boy, you think you can take me on?" Daal grinned, his teeth shining in the sunlight.

Remix chuckled "More than confident enough. In fact I think you haven't done your homework."

Daal narrowed his eyes, chunks of metal being torn up from the ground and flung aside as the power continued to swell around them "Oh I know about what this marvellous fusion has done. If only I could harness your power for my device, oh what I could do with such a thing."

"Then you're well aware of how hard I'm gonna kick your ass." Remix's fire erupted in a brilliant flash of light, the three observers being sent staggering back from the shockwave.

In an instant the two god-like beings were in the air, each clash of fists shaking the air around them. Sliding past Daal's fist, Remix smashed his directly into the cheek of the mad scientist with a solid THWACK and Daal being sent flying.

"Come on, come on!" Remix laughed, seemingly dancing in the air as Daal righted himself "We just started and I already got a hit like that on ya!?"

Daal growled as he righted his jaw "Lucky hit." He vanished into thin air, immediately reforming behind the warrior. He wrapped his arm around Remix's throat, his grip tightening immensely by the second "Oh look at this, the great Remix being held in a mere choke-hold, how humiliating!" He sneered as Remix struggled in his grasp "Come now, if th-ACK!" His bloating was interrupted by a solid elbow into his gut. Remix broke free of the android's grasp in an instant, gripping his arm and throwing him back into the platform, rocketing straight for him with fire engulfing his fist. He only hit the dented steel as Daal rolled out of the way, picking up Remix and tossing him into a nearby pole. With a hiss, Remix swiftly jumped to his feet, ripping the pole out of its place and spinning it around himself before holding it in a battle stance. Daal scoffed and charged for Remix, who instantly vaulted over him with the pole, whacking it into the back of his head with ease, the force alone shattered the pole, Remix following up with a powerful drop kick that sent Daal hurtling head first into the crown of the brass statue. The man with the inferno of hair landed neatly, hands on his hips as he stared at the settling dust "Too easy! And here I was thinking this would be fun!" He threw his hands out to his sides, two orbs of blue energy materializing in his palms "Some threat you are!"

Jack's folded arms suddenly dropped, his stern look being replaced with shock "Marcus, you feel that?"

Marcus kept his eyes on the dust cloud, his face scrunched up in confusion "Yeah, I feel it alright. Something's not right."

Delta looked to the two men, then to the dust cloud as an odd glimmer of light appeared from within. Mere moments later, Remix was sent flying into the rest of them by some incredible force, his balls of energy scattering off into the sky and illuminating the ocean with a vibrant blue explosion. Remix groaned as he pushed himself up, swiftly helping the rest of the group to their feet "What even was that?" He queried, looking to the hole in the statue's crown.

"I must congratulate you on making my battle plan move faster than expected." Daal's voice echoed across the platform, Remix's aura immediately reigniting, standing firm in front of the other three. From the hole emerged a fully healed Daal-Wah-Niid, though his chest was glowing with a rainbow of lights.

"No way..." Marcus' jaw fell agape as he stared at the source of the lights. The Gems of Eternity were embedded into Daal's chest, the towering android glaring straight into their souls with the grin of a psychopath plastered on his face.

"It's commendable, really, no one's ever thrown a wrench into my plans the way you have." Daal's body sparked with immense power as he raised his fists "All the more reason for me to ensure you lot go FIRST!"

Before even Remix could react, Daal appeared in front of Marcus. The former mercenary's point blank shotgun blast simply bounced off his skin, as did Delta's sniper fire and Jack's flurry of sword strikes, Remix himself only ruffling the back of Daal's clothes. The mere act of Daal then gripping Marcus by the neck sent the fighters flying away from him, Delta's rifle tumbling over the edge and into the deep abyss below, the girl herself narrowly clinging onto the platform's edge.

"Y-You.." Marcus hissed through his tightened throat, Daal's eyes boring into his very existence.

"Arrogant _pest_." Daal spat as his grip on Marcus' neck tightened "Your heart for your family seems big. LET'S SEE HOW BIG IT IS!" In one swift yet brutal movement, Daal tore into Marcus' chest, ripping his heart clean out. Blood splattered onto the floor around him, any droplets that would have hit him simply bouncing off.

"**MARCUS!"** Remix shrieked, his aura being sent into an inferno as he charged for Daal. The empowered android didn't even turn to look at Remix, instead a single blast of energy sent him tumbling back once more.

"Any last words?" Daal cackled into the fading eyes of the last human.

And with one smirk, Marcus croaked out a faint "Fuck you." before he went limp, the still beating heart in Daal's other hand going still.

On the distant horizon, an ear piercing shriek rang out through the streets of Ooinkhu, Jack's metallic nails kicking up sparks as he dragged them into a fist.

Delta finally pulled herself back onto the platform, being met with Marcus' body hitting the floor beside with with a THUD, the girl immediately freezing once more.

"You bastard..." Jack hissed, a red wisp radiating off his whole body "You...you monster…!" His revealed eye turned bloodshot, another sword forming in his free hand.

"No, Jack!" Remix yelled out as he scrambled to his feet. The fusion was swiftly blasted right back into the floor, Daal simply looking to him with a smirk before returning his attention back to Jack. The cyborg made a mad dash straight to Daal, who caught both his swords with ease. Jack's monstrous screeches rang out for miles across the ocean's waves, his arms a blur as he went wild against the sheer and utter force that was Daal, who only kept his confident smirk on his face as mere fingers reflected every blow. The clash kept up for a good few seconds until Daal suddenly gripped Jack's arms, the red blaze that surrounded Jack dissipating in an instant. He barely had a moment to register the slimy touch of Daal's hands before his arms were torn off with ease. Instead of an agonizing scream, he simply staggered back, gasping for breath as nanoparticles swarmed from within his chest. Though with a simple snap of Daal's fingers, the particles exploded in a vibrant black and blue blast, Jack's body now reduced to nothing but wires and a metal frame, blood coating whatever was left of the man. With laboured, raspy breaths, he took one look at Remix before dropping off the edge without a word, the howling wind broken seconds later by a loud splash below.

"And now those...interruptions are out of the way-" Before Daal could even finish his sentence, he was sent reeling by Remix ramming his fist square into his fist at blazing speed. With his fangs bared and eyes unflinching, Remix unleashed an incredible barrage of punches directly into Daal's chest as they flew over the ocean before kicking him straight down, the ocean itself parting as Daal smashed into the ocean floor, smirking the entire time.

"**GO TO HELL, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"** Rem's voice screeched above Ix's as Remix sent thousands upon thousands of energy blasts towards the revealed seabed, the resulting explosion's mushroom cloud vanishing miles into the sky, Remix's shoulders rising and falling with his breaths. Gripping his forehead and shaking his head, Remix shook himself down, grunting as he stretched "Lost my cool...Gotta smash the device."

"Lost your cool, Mr. Altezio?" Daal's voice echoed in Remix's head.

"WHAT-" Remix was once again sent flying by an unseen force, hitting the edge of the platform and spinning back onto the top, groaning as he smacked face first into the floor. Looking over, he saw Delta stood paralysed as she stared at Marcus' body, like she couldn't even turn away.

"Eyes on the fight!" Daal appeared beside Remix, grabbing him by his spiked hair, repeatedly smashing his face into the steel floor.

Delta finally broke her gaze from the mutilated corpse of her friend, only to be immediately met with Remix yelling out between slams, the once proud and mighty fusion now covered in bruises, blood and scars.

"DeltAGH!" Remix called out "Little- ARGH! Help!?"

Her whole body shaking, Delta still nodded and grabbed the fallen Marcus' shotgun, aiming for Daal, the blast echoing as silence suddenly fell over the seas.

Total miss. The pellets hit everything but the crazed scientist, his eyes squirming as one kept locked on the gasping Remix whilst the other stared directly at Delta. He released Remix, who immediately began forcing himself back onto his feet, coughing up a puddle of blood as he staggered upright. Daal marched right up to Delta, easily wrenching the shotgun from her grasp and tossing it into the ocean.

"Listen here, _kiddo_." His voice dripped with venom "You're lucky to be alive right now considering who's around you. Now, I have a use for you, believe it or not, so stay. Put. And I'll get back to you."

Delta didn't answer, her eyes glancing behind Daal to a glowing blue light.

Daal noticed the glance and turned around, Delta diving away from him as he turned. Remix stood back up, coated in his own gore yet still strong, a huge ball of swirling blue energy between his hands "Hey, Daal!" He yelled "Try get a reading on your body as it gets blown to smithereens!"

Daal smirked and opened his arms to Remix, bursting into mad laughter the whole while.

"**KA..ME...HA...ME...HAAAAAA!**" Remix's voice tore through the air as he threw his arms forward, unleashed an enormous blue wave of energy towards Daal, whose smirk remained glued on his lips. The blast tore the platform apart and shot over the horizon, straight over the city of Ooinkhu and off into the atmosphere, Remix screeching with all his might as he pushed further into the beam before releasing it all into one final burst, the beam exploding over Daal and covering the platform in a blinding blue light.

Gasping for breath, Remix lowered his arms as he stared at the cloud of sheer black smoke. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he scowled as he stood upright "Enough energy for you?"

"MORE THAN ENOUGH!"

Remix and Delta gasped as the smoke was blasted apart to reveal Daal stood atop a pedestal filled with a swirling green cloud "You are a truly amazing contributor to my experiments, you Altezios!" He raised his hands once more, his grin stretched beyond any normal limitations of facial muscles "And now, your overwhelming might, the very same you have used to save this world countless times before! It provides the final push for me to reform it as my creators left me to do!"

"No!" Remix yelled, breaking into a mad sprint, leaping into the air with his foot ablaze.

"EARTH REFORMER DEVICE!" He grabbed a detonator that shot out of the ground as Remix was mere inches away from his face once more "**FIRE!**" His finger clicked down on the button at the same instance as Remix's foot made contact with his face, stretching it beyond comprehension and sending him smashing back into the crown of the statue. Remix could only stare in horror as an enormous beam of green goo and energy erupted out of the statue's face, hurtling into the horizon in seconds. Remix's arms dropped as he looked back to Delta, then to Daal, his face reforming back into his maniacal smirk.

"Choose, Altezios. The girl or your planet? Surely you wouldn't let a girl die and miss out on true freedom. And you wouldn't like to see your families die."

In the howling wind, Remix's hair drooped down to a scraggy mess of the women that made him, the anger vanishing from his eyes as he looked at Delta "I'm sorry." He said in a breath before leaping off the platform and into the distance.

Delta just stood there, paralysed once again as she watched the beam continue to blast off into the horizon.

"Poor Delta." Daal gripped his face as it healed "Left alone to die." He smirked as he held his hand out "At least, that's what he thinks. Join me, Delta. The world will be so much more than what it is now. I'm only doing this to make it all perfect. Something...that a being as pure as you deserves. You don't know what it's really like out there, all you know is the ragtag group you met down there. Are you sure you can believe them? That girl, the tall one, she hates your kind, didn't you know?"

Delta didn't answer, just staring at the hand outstretched in front of her.

"She would have killed you regardless."

Delta took a deep breath, looking down at herself, her dirty and battered hands, the tears in her jacket. And Rem's smile appeared in her mind, was he right? That rage she showed, what if it was on her end? Was it meant to all be for her?

She let out her breath and slowly took Daal's hand, the android smiling as he shook on it "That's a good girl. Watch, now."

On the sea outside Ooinkhu, Remix was hovering firm in the air, charging up the greatest Kamehameha he could muster after such a fight, the blue light slowly creeping over the city. Finally, he saw it, the distant green light hurtling towards the city "Everything I've got..." He muttered to himself as shrieks and scream began to echo from the city as the beam got closer "KAMEHAME...HAA!" He threw his arms forward once more, a tremendous shockwave tearing the ocean up once more as the beams clashed, Remix grunting and growling as he pushed every bit of energy he could into the beam, yet it just kept pushing back, inching ever closer to the mainland. The city was now alight with more green than blue, Remix himself being physically forced back, the clash of beams now twisted into a large disc only meters away from his face.

And finally, it broke.

Remix found himself in a world slowed down to a crawl, as his energy wave exploded, the green mass engulfing him as his vision of the world faded, the distant sun vanishing to give away to the night's consuming shadows.

With a tremendous roar, the green mass of energy smashed into the city, shredding up anything unfortunate enough to get in its way. It tore through the streets and buildings like it was all nothing to its onslaught. Screams were silenced instantly upon contact.

A woman with black and pink hair clutched onto a shivering, pink child as she made a mad dash away from the city, the green onslaught chasing behind them. With one look over her shoulder, she only had a moment to let anything out of her mouth before it overtook her, too. In mere seconds the mass began to spread across the globe, covering it in a thick green ooze. Delta could only watch as it filled the oceans, Daal's face alight with pure victory.

…

…

…

…

**9 months later…**

Delta sighed as she stared out upon the grassy plains, staring at...she couldn't call it life. It was wrong, its very existence was the definition of mutilated. An extremely tall, bipedal beast scoured the land, releasing the sounds of a now long-lost civilization. Delta sighed and turned her back to the land, vanishing into the now mossy remains of the same statue that brought the world to its knees.


	14. Et Post Finem

One year.

One year since the world fell.

And Delta still couldn't believe it – a world she'd never known, yes, but it was gone, the world she _wanted_ to know.

For that whole year, she'd been stuck in this statue, day after day only able to watch the world try and heal itself from the wound of Daal's cannon. Moss, vines and other greenery had begun to creep up the outsides of the statue, nature reclaiming it up to its waist now. The only things Delta had left of the friends that had helped her after waking up in the Metro…she couldn't even remember their names anymore; even their faces were beginning to fade.

"Why?" She questioned, once again staring out into the grassy plains around the statue, the crumbling remains of a once proud city barely recognizable after all this time "WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER YOU!?" She slammed her fists into the stone railing, her scream echoing into the horizon. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing into her palms.

Her ears flicked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Delta wiped her eyes as she turned to face the source – Daal, his skin now entirely cyan with a matching glow, casually walked up to the young Octoling, his sadistic smug plastered onto his face "I've been looking for you, Delta." His voice ran down Delta's skin like a cold chill "I have something to show you."

Delta took a hitched breath before answering with a shaky "What?"

Daal turned around and replied with only a "Come with me" and starting to walk away from Delta – hesitantly, the girl followed, being lead through the statue and up to its crown, onto the very same platform that…she saw it all turn green from. Now, however, there was a pedestal holding a bronze coloured necklace, which itself contained a collection of glowing stones, in an instant, Delta's mind flashed back to the underground – the Gems of Eternity.

She finally spoke up after the two of them observed the necklace "…What is it?"

"This, my girl." Daal approached the necklace "Is a display of my ultimate achievement, making the world into exactly as to how my creators once dreamed of it being. Plus, if anything goes awry, then I shall always have these same Gems ready to reset it all."

"Reset?" Delta murmured.

Daal chuckled as he turned his head to Delta's position "Correct. These Gems are far more powerful than you think, with all this power I could reset reality itself, all universes would be bent to my will."

**KILL HIM!**

A warped, demonic voice screamed in Delta's head, the girl gasping as she flinched back. Another cold chuckle emanated from the tyrant "Shocked? I think everyone would be upon discovering there are many, many worlds out there. I may even try and conquer the next one over once I've decided this world is…finished, shall we say?"

Delta's vision scrambled and distorted as she shifted her gaze to the necklace once more, a rising scream filling her ears.

**KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!**

The chants filled her ears, completely draining out whatever it was Daal had begun to say as the scream began to rise, her mind being overridden by one message, one scream, amidst the overload she could swear she saw a mysterious hooded figure flick into existence and disappear as soon as she registered his existence.

_I'll kill him._

Delta's mind went blank, only those words echoing through her brain. Slowly, her hearing returned to her, first a piercing ringing in her ears before it was replaced with the sound of wind, birds, and a distant ruffling of trees. She was still on the platform, Daal staring at her with a bored expression on his face.

"Are you done having a seizure?" He narrowed his eyes and lowered his brow, a sour frown on his lips. Delta's groans as she stood up was the only affirmation he needed "As I was saying – for now, these will serve as a trophy, I chose to place it up here to show the world below my grand power. Fitting for a god, no?"

Delta begrudgingly nodded her head.

Chuckling, Daal approached Delta once more, looking down at her with a sneer before going down the stairs that lead to back inside the statue "You are free to observe for as long as you wish. But I would not recommend putting it on, that would spell unfortunate events for someone like you."

Once Daal had vanished back into the statue, Delta carefully walked to the necklace's pedestal, it glimmered in the afternoon sun and once again, she heard the chanting, though now reduced to only a whisper instead of a mind numbing screaming. Her hand reached out to grab the necklace, but froze when another distant voice appeared in her mind, a voice she'd never heard, but one that felt so…familiar…

"Not yet."

She gently lowered her hand back down to her side, yet her eyes remained fixated on the necklace, like it just kept calling out to her. The whispers soon faded into the air, Delta's shoulders slumping as she sighed, trudging her way back into the statue.

**Midnight**

Delta stared up at the ceiling in utter silence, her room illuminated only by the moonlight that shimmered in through the window. Even now, she could hardly call it a bedroom, her bed was falling apart, cracks covered the ceiling and walls and dirt coated the floor. She hated it all, never even bothered to do anything about the state of it. Whatever life was like before the cannon fired, this wasn't it.

"Kill him." She repeated up to the ceiling, purple eyes almost vacant as she stared, muttering the words to herself over and over again. Her hands began to ball into fists, shaking from how tight she had them, nails digging into her palms.

Her boots slammed against the floor as she threw herself off her bed, making a mad dash through the halls of the statue, thundering up the stairs and throwing the doors open to the outside. Stopping to catch her breath, her ears pricked up upon hearing distant, yet heavy footsteps echoing after her. Daal. Without a moment of hesitation, Delta scrambled up the final set of stairs and towards the necklace, swiping it from its pedestal and stopping at the front of the platform, looking out over the distant horizon, the grassy plains alight with the world's glowing plants, the distant mountains looming at the very edge of what she could see.

"DELTA!" Daal shrieked, standing on the opposite side of the platform "Put it back!"

Delta looked at the necklace, her grip on it tightening as she raised it up to her chest "No." Was her only reply, taking each side of it in her hands and putting them around her neck. Daal began a mad dash over the platform, his hand only inches away from grabbing the necklace as Delta hooked it together. In an instant the spikes on the statue's crown were obliterated by a tremendous shockwave, Daal himself thrown to the opposite edge of the platform. Thousands of beams of light flashed from within Delta, lightning crackling around her and carving destruction into the platform. The Octoling grit her teeth as pain racked her entire body, constantly building to levels no one should be able to handle. Delta fell to her knees, screaming to the sky as a blinding white light erupted out of her, blinding the entire universe in an instant.

…

..

…

"Hey."

Where am I? It's…so dark. I can't feel anything. I can't…see…anything…

"Heyyy."

Is that my voice?

"HEY!"

Delta's eyes shot open, finding herself stood upright amidst a totally black void, surrounded on all sides by oblivion. As she tried to find…anything amidst the void, another Octoling appeared from within the darkness. Thick shades, a brown closed trench coat, black spats, and thigh high black leather boots "You got balls, kid."

"Do I know you?" Delta responded. The Octoling silently marched up to the younger of the two, taking her chin in her hand and examining her features "Hm…got the hair wrong, but it's like staring into a mirror."

"…What?" Delta took a step away from the Octoling as she released her "What are you talking about?"

Trinity removed her shades and placed them into her pocket, revealing her eyes were naught but entirely black with small white dots for pupils "Trinity. Trinity Betta."

Those eyes – the instant Delta saw them her mind flashed back to her encounter with Johnny and the reforming beast in the purple ooze.

"I see you remember the feeling." Trinity sighed, placing her hands in her pockets "Subject D, as he would call you, did you ever consider where you _really_ came from?"

Delta shook her head "No – I couldn't remember anything from before I woke up and met…him…"

Trinity sighed and nodded "Right. Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but…" She stared directly into Delta's eyes, those white pupils boring into her soul "You're me. You, Subject D, are a clone."

"Clone…?" Delta muttered. Her mind went blank once more, but it all made sense. She rolled up her sleeve, the words engraved into her flesh had healed, but their impressions remained. Subject D. The reason why she didn't know anything about herself from before she woke up in the Metro "…No."

But she couldn't deny it.

"I was a sniper in the Octarian army," Trinity began, walking past Delta and looking out into the abyss "One of their deadliest, actually."

_That explains why I was so good with that rifle…_ Delta thought, unable to tear her gaze away from her scars.

"However, I met my match one day. Never even got a read on who they were, just one moment I saw a flash and the next…"

"The next?" Delta finally broke her stare away from her arm, turning to Trinity.

"I don't know. Heaven, Hell, I know those exist, but I was trapped in this…world of infinite shadow. Everything was black but there was a thick white fog. Wherever it was, I was just stuck there for god knows how long." Trinity continued to stare into the void as she spoke "My eyes are the result of…testing, to make my vision better at all times. I think when you have that…feeling, your eyes become like mine and you take on part of me."

Delta answered with a quiet "You were watching me?"

"No." Trinity shook her head "I just…know that, for some reason." She then spun around to face Delta once more "The Octarians lived in awful conditions when I was alive – I imagine that hasn't changed. Delta, do me favour when we get back, will you?"

Delta adjusted her own jacket as she stood upright, perfectly matching her original in height "What do you want?"

"I may have had to do bad things in my life, but I always wanted something better for my…" She paused "_Our_ people, by any means necessary. Even if that meant wiping out the Inklings. But I can't do anything while trapped here. Do me one thing – try your best to make the world a better place for them."

Delta took a deep breath, breaking eye contact with Trinity "I can't. I don't know how. I don't know anything about the world aside from the Metro."

Trinity chuckled, placing a hand on Delta's shoulder "You'll know what to do, both with them and in the fight."

"The fight?"

"Oh, and one more thing – try and forget about me. Be your own person, kid."

"Wha-"

Trinity shoved Delta away before she could finish, disappearing into the darkness as it consumed Delta's vision.

…

"…Come on! Some threat you are!"

Delta found herself back on the platform all those months ago, a large dust cloud on the opposite side of it to her. She was surrounded by…familiar people. Their names quickly came flooding back to her. Jack, Rem, Ix and…she looked to the man in the red coat with his arms crossed. He noticed her gaze, looking to her and smiling "Don't worry, kid, this'll be over in a minute."

"No it won't, Marcus." Delta gripped her rifle and broke into a sprint across the platform, a loud KERCHUNK sounding as she loaded a bullet into it.

"Wait, hang on, Delta! What do you mean!?" Marcus yelled after her. Jack placed his hand on the human's chest, chuckling "I think she knows what she's doing."

Marcus grumbled "And what makes you think that?"

"Kid wouldn't be running headfirst into certain death otherwise." Jack gestured to the Octoling as she ran past Remix, the fusion simply lowering his arms and crossing them "I think she knows something we don't."

Daal's green hand reached out for a button on the floor, the android groaning, outstretched arm shaking. Just as his finger was about to press down on the button, he found himself smacked to the side by a heavy chunk of metal, forced onto his back. Delta placed her boot firmly onto his chest, shoving her rifle into Daal's mouth, eyes having turned entirely black with white pupils once more.

"I've seen it." She said slowly and firmly "Your ideal world."

"Wadn't id beautifuhl?" Daal grinned, rifle pressed firmly between his teeth.

"**It was a fucking nightmare." **Delta responded, her voice dripping, whole body twitching and her head burning.

"To you." Daal smirked "So, wash gunna happen? You pull th' trigger? I know thothe eyes."

Delta's eyes immediately flicked back to their usual purple "She won't. I will."

Daal's head split open, scattering a mess of blood, fake guts and cybernetics across the floor, his blood coating the end of Delta's rifle and splashing onto her boots. Without a word, she simply dropped the rifle onto his body and turned around, dragging her feet as she walked out of the rubble. Remix gave her a simple smile – the look on his face, something about it told Delta there was more to him than she thought…

The two of them walked over to Jack and Marcus, Marcus staring at Delta in disbelief "How did you…?"

"…It's a very long story." Delta simply replied "And a story I don't want to tell you anyway."

"…Right." Marcus nodded "And, Delta, by the way…"

"Yeah?" Delta tilted her head, only to find herself pulled into a hug from Marcus.

"I'm proud of you." Marcus said softly. Delta slowly returned the hug, a gentle smile on her face.

"This is nice…" She muttered.

Jack let out a brief, soft laugh before turning his attention to Remix "So…why is it wh-"

His question was interrupted by a chain of explosions tearing through the statue, shaking the platform wildly "What the hell!?" Jack yelled "What's going on!?"

"Daal musta had some bombs linked to a suicide switch as a last resort…!" Remix hissed, placing two of his fingers to his forehead "Guys, grab onto me, this thing's about to go sky high!" The rest of the group gripped onto Remix's arm, vanishing in a flash of light.

The squad reappeared on a mountaintop that stood proud over the islands of Hawaii. Just as they appeared, Remix flashed a bright purple, the sisters that made him appearing beside where the warrior once stood. Rem's initial look of shock and confusion was swiftly replaced by her traditional smirk "It's finally over."

"Yeah." Ix nodded, hugging her sister from the side "We're home."

The sound of distant explosions caught the group's attention, walking to the edge of the cliffside to see the statue being riddled with explosions all over as it sunk into the deep ocean, its once highly held torch sinking beneath the waves "Never thought I'd see Lady Liberty turned on its own country." Marcus said as he crossed his arms, a gentle breeze blowing through the air as the group watched the distant sunset, the orange light cast upon them.

"So…" Delta finally spoke up "What now?"

"…We go home." Ix responded, looking to the city below them, hearing distant cheers of celebration from its citizens "I think that saying we're missed will be an understatement."

"What about you, Delta?" Rem asked, eyebrow raised "Where will you go? We have a pretty large house, you can stay with us if you want."

Delta smiled and looked back out the horizon "…I think I know what I'm going to do. Where do the Octarians live?"

"Octo Valley." Ix pointed out to a distant set of mountains.

"I'm going to make their world a better place."

**5 years later…**

"-zilla may return one day, but for now, we can rest easy knowing that Japan, and the world at large, is safe. And now, our top story – the Octarians have declared a new queen to their society this week. The young Delta Trinity, whilst seemingly appearing overnight, has quickly become popular amidst the Octarians, with it being an almost unanimous decision in their high council and populace that she be crowned as their 105th ruler." The image on the screen changed to that of a large gathering of Octarians inside a rather well made and lavish hall for the state of their buildings. An Octostamp and Octoling walked along a purple carpet that split the crowd in two. The Octostamp carried a cushion on its head, upon which rested an ancient crown made of gems and ancient shark teeth. At the end of the carpet was a throne made of numerous plates of metal and upon it sat the now adult Delta, her hair having grown out wildly over the years, now reaching down to her hips, she still remained in completely black leather clothing, now wearing a golden heart pin on the left of her jacket. The Octostamp and Octoling stopped a few feet away from the throne, the more humanoid of the two taking the crown and walking up to Delta. The green haired girl lowered her head slightly as the Octoling raised the crown up, then gently placed it on Delta's head. She stood to the side, allowing the hall to see the now crowned Delta, the whole room erupting with cheers and hollers. However, Delta was focused on one thing. Standing in the holes that the hall used for windows stood two familiar women – a tall woman with an extremely long ponytail and another with messy blue hair, both of them looking down at her with large grins on their faces. She gave them a determined nod in response. Rem chuckled and held up her hand as the two of them jumped out of the window and vanished into the sky of the valley.

Delta leaned back in her throne, staring up into the sunlight.

"Thank you."

**SPLAT X: OCTO INSURGENCY**

**THE END**


End file.
